Endgame: KOF XII
by Darth Riven
Summary: Sequel of HMK. So read that first before reading this. The players have begun to make their moves. Reviews are most appreciated. OMG...Terry called Billy his friend in KOF MI2. FINISHEDMAY BE REWRITTEN
1. Chapter 1

Endgame KOF: XII

Disclaimer: SNK owns King of Fighters and all the characters that appear. I own any original character appears. This in no way derogates from SNK's legal rights and obligations.

Introduction

I decided to change to this title, before it was tentatively known as Heavy Metal Kingz 2, and it may revert back to that title too.

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Timeline 

In time order: KOF 2003 (X), KOF Maximum Impact, KOF XI, KOF Another Day (the anime), KOF Maximum Impact 2, Heavy Metal Kingz (HMK 1) and Streets of Southtown (which hasn't been written yet), Endgame: KOF XII (this story)

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Dramatis Personae 

Main Characters:

Members of the HMK team (hehe, this is both the initials of Billy's band - Heavy Metal Kingz from the first story, and the initial of the last names of the three members of the team which was completely unintended)

Rock **H**oward - Biological son on Geese Howard (deceased)and Marie Heinlein (officially deceased may not actually be dead.) Adopted son of Terry Bogard and Mary Ryan-Bogard.Fighting style is a mixture of both his father's (biological and adopted). ie. Kobujutsu and Martial Arts.

Kai **M**ellion - Manager of Billy's rock band - Heavy Metal Kingz. (Please read the HMK itself first for more info).He was trained solely by his "father", and is now married with children. He also has a sister, Kaia, who was solely trained by his "mother". Fighting Styleis Chaos Arts and Chameleon Arts.

Billy **K**ane - Frontman of Rock band sensation, Heavy Metal Kingz (again read the first story for more info). Ex-right hand man of Geese Howard. One sister, Lilly Kane. Lives in England now. Currently involved with Kaia Mellion, sister of the band's manager. Fighting Style is of course Boujutsu

See the unintended pattern now :)

Other characters of note:

Kaia Mellion: Kai's younger sister,Billy's girlfriend. (again read the first story for more info). Is a top notch British government spy. Trained solely by her and Kai's "mother". Fighting Style(s): Riposte and Crystalline Order. Sent by the government to keep an eye on ADDES and the tournament.

Lilly Kane:Proprietoress of Kane's Laundry Shop, in London England. Took over the business afterBilly started withtheband. Is romantically involved with Joe Higashi much to Billy's chagrin (and dislike). Does not fight (if you want to read a story where she does fight go and read A Single Decision by LegendarySuperNamek).

Terry Bogard: Adoptive father of Rock Howard. Fighting Style is Martial Arts taught to him by his own adoptive father Jeff Bogard. Married to Blue Mary Ryan. In the Fatal Fury team consisting of himself, Joe Higashi and his brother Andy.

Mary Ryan-Bogard: Adoptive mother of Rock Howard. Fighting Style is Commando Sambo. Married to Terry Bogard. Member of theWomen Fighter's (or as I like to call it the wives team)team along with King Sakazaki andMai Shuranui-Bogard.

Joe Higashi: Member of the Fatal Fury team, boyfriend of Lilly Kane. Fighting Style is Muay Thai.

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Teams Endgame: KOF XII 

Ash CrimsonTeam - Ash Crimson, Ron, Elisabeth Blantorche

HMK team - Rock Howard, Kai Mellion, Billy Kane

Kusanagi/Yagami team - Kyo Kusanagi, Iori Yagami, Shingo Yabuki

K' team - K', Kula Diamond, Maxima

Fatal Fury Team - Terry Bogard, Andy Bogard, Joe Higashi

Korea Team - Kim Kaphwan, Choi Bounge, Chang Koehan

AlbaMeira team- Alba Meira, Luise Meyrink, Oswald

Kyokugenryu team - Ryo Sakazaki, Robert Garcia, Yuri Sakazaki

ADDES team - Soiree Meira (brainwashed), Nagase, Duke (braincontrolled with body enhancements as well)

Neo Psycho Soldiers - Duo Lon, Sie Kensou, Athena Asamiya

Ikari Warriors - Leona Heidern, Ralf Jones, Clark Steel

Women's Team - King Sakazaki, Mai Shiranui-Bogard, "Blue" Mary Ryan-Bogard

Anti- Kyokugenryu - Malin, Kasumi Todoh, Eiji Kisaragi

Outlaw Team - Ryuji Yamazaki, Lin, Gato

Benimaru Team - Benimaru Nikaido, Shen Woo, Seth

Garouteam - Bonne Jenet, Hotaru Futaba, Tizoc

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Other characters: 

Colour commentary will be provided by Goro Daimon, along with two commentators. Maybe other characters will also make appearances as guest commentators as well.

Whip will also make an appearance near the end.

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Important facts/things: 

You should at least read/browse over Heavy Metal Kingz first, before you read this, as some stuff won't make sense if you don't.

Soiree Meira was kidnapped at the end of KOF MI2 by ADDES (that's why he is on the ADDES team). As was Duke.

The tournament sponsors are: ADDES, Kain Heinlein, and as always there will be Orochi worshippers running around too

I will at the very least be covering each of the HMK team fights if not every single one, depends on how quick I write.

Each match will be a randomly decided type - read the story to find out. From the classicstyle 94to new style 2K3,plus other styles that Icame up with myself.

Please Review this...feedback is very much appreciated and wanted.

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New Moves that I have invented: 

Kai's Chaos Arts movelist

Chaos Shot - fires a green glob of liquid chaosfire from one hand.

Chaos Uppercut - standard uppercut attack backed by chaosfire

Chaos Scythe - Kai leaps into the air if not already in the air and brings his leg crashing down on the opponent in a scythe like motion.

Chaos Flurry - A quick series of punches, strikes, claws and palms - it is hard to predict which type of blow he will use in the Chaos Flurry

Desperation Move: Chaos Charge: Invincible charge into a Chaos Flurry into a series of quickfire Chaos Shots, the last one more powerful.

Leader Desperation Move, Super Desperation Move: Grand Chaos Charge, like the Chaos Charge but unblockable, except the last shot stuns, and then Kai launches into a Chaos Uppercut and then cancels into a Chaos Scythe with his whole leg enveloped in Chaosfire which bounces the opponent into the ground.

Hidden Super Desperation Move: Lethal Chaos Charge: Grand Chaos Charge, except when when opponent's body bounces off the ground after the Chaos Scythe, Kai launches a massive multi-hit Chaos Shot which envelops the opponent in Chaosfire and sends them flying...

Kai's Chameleon Arts Movelist

Chameleon - Morphs into other fighter and copies one of their moves. Can only morph into people that he has touched. Of limited use as it only lasts one move before he has to remorph into himself again.

Desperation Move: Super Chameleon - like Chameleon except that hemorphsand attacks again and again without having to remorph.(so it's up to my and your imagination to come with with some very weird and wonderful combos)

Billy's Hidden SuperDesperation Move -Discordant Kane

Charging staff jab (invincible whilst rushing/may also be unblockable) into a half crouching jab with end of staff into a flaming crouchinguppercut with the other end of staff, turning overhead strike with stick exploding, turning around separating staff into 3 striking with end and then inverting it by turning around into a downwards strike into a flaming crouching uppercutinto seven somersaulting flaming dai senpuu, slam into ground on last with flames, and then opponent's body flies upwards, Billy swings his ignited staff two hands at the end sending flaming opponent flying to the moon (or other end of the arena as it may actually be).


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: SNK owns King of Fighters and all the characters that appear. I own any original character appears. This in no way derogates from SNK's legal rights and obligations.

Prologue - A Team Is Formed

Location: London, England

The morning sunlight began to filter through the curtains into the bedroom. Inside the sky-blue room, there was a large king-sized bed with a canopy, the translucent cloth coverings of the canopy, filtering the sunlight. On the bed there were two people, heads sticking out from under the red blanket, a man with blonde hair in an unruly mop, the other, a raven haired beauty whose hair was as neat as it always was. Billy stirred as the morning sunlight hit him, his blue eyes opening to greet the new day. He carefully took the blanket off himself, exposing his bare sculpted chest, and flannel PJs. He climbed carefully out of bed, taking care not to disturb Kaia who was still sleeping next to him.

He walked into the adjoining ensuite, after grabbing his own HMK t-shirt from the chair in the room, where he had left it the previous night, and put it on as he went to the sink, and turned the tap on. The water came out, as he began to brush his teeth, and wash his face, before going to the morning sparring session, with Rock, who had been living with him now for about a year, and Kai. As he came out of the bathroom, he was grabbed by the waist, two arms encircling the gap between his t-shirt and PJs. Kaia carefully planted a kiss on Billy's shoulder. "Morning, honey," he said, as he walked towards the cupboard to get his clothes so that he could change.

"Morning, do you have to leave so soon," Kaia replied.

"Yes, I do, you should know that, we spar every morning before we go do our day jobs," Billy replied, the we meaning Billy who was frontman of Heavy Metal Kingz, the highly successful rock band, whose second CD was now in the last stages of production, Kai who managed the band, and Rock who went to school. Kaia was between missions for the government, so was on holiday right now.

"Spoilsport," she said, "I'm definitely not going easy on you today."

"And anyway, your brother will be expecting us, he's probably going to be round soon. If you aren't going to take it easy, then I won't either."

Kaia let go of Billy, as he got to the cupboard, retreating into the ensuite, where she would get ready. The days right now were a bit tedious, since she wasn't on active assignment yet, sometimes she'd go into the office just to do some imaginary paperwork. She wished for a new mission soon

Billy meanwhile, had changed into his sparring clothes by the time, Kaia came out of the bedroom. "I'll leave you to get ready, Kaia," Billy said, as he left the room, picking up his tri-sectioned staff from the dresser table next to the bed before he walked out. Outside, he saw Rock come out of his room, also ready for the morning's practice. They each wished each other a good morning, as they headed outside for the short walk around the front to the gym which had been installed next to the house, a habit even though it was adjoined to the back.

Outside, they saw a black motorcycle had already been parked outside the gym, signifying that Kai was already there, probably getting changed for the morning spar as well. After Kaia joined them, they would warm up and then engage in a series of controlled spars, even though sometimes they ended up with massive bruises and black eyes. It had been fun trying to explain to Rock's schools principal the day he had turned up with a black eye, that it was a result of sparring rather than any sort of child abuse. Billy swore that the principal was suspicious and hated what was going on, ever since when Rock first joined the school, and the school bullies had tried to pick on him, and they ended up with black eyes and bruises.

Usually, while they were sparring, Lilly would come in with breakfast for when they had finished, before heading to open the laundromat. They would finish their sparring soon after breakfast arrived, eat it, and then take a quick shower before heading off to their respective jobs.

This morning, the sparring session was intense, but towards the end, they were quite exhausted, ready for breakfast and a nice shower. Breakfast duly came, as Lilly entered into the gym which was adjoined to the back of the house, wheeling in a trolley with food on it. They all thanked her, loudly, and Billy gave her a morning hug. "Thanks sis," he said, as she went back to the house to get ready to open the laundromat.

The four fighters began to eat the breakfast that had been prepared, digging in to the delicious food that had been prepared for them. After finishing, they ran through the rest of their morning routine. Kai and Billy rode their motorcycles off to the recording studio, zooming out through the streets, as Rock took the bus to the nearby school, where he now had many friends, those who were glad that he had embarrassed the school bullies so easily. Sometimes the bullies would try to taunt Rock about his biological father, but with Billy's help, Rock had already made peace with his heritage, and it didn't phase him anymore, at all.

Sometimes, if there was spare time in the afternoon, when Kaia was not on a mission, she'd go visit Lilly and they would watch the customers come and go. Sometimes, Joe came by in the afternoon as well, to visit Lilly, but not when Billy was around. There was still a while to go, he thought, before he and Lilly would be allowed to be married, as she wouldn't make the decision without her brother's blessing. Right now, though, Joe was back in Southtown, defending his Muay Thai title.

That afternoon, as Kai and Billy and the rest of the band were listening to one of the final tracks on their new CD, the secretary stuck her head through the door, and said, "there's a letter here for Billy, no sender address."

It was marked 'personal', and sealed with a strange seal. Billy got up, and the secretary handed him the letter. He went outside into the corridor and undid the seal, inside was an invitation to the next King of Fighters tournament, to be held in Southtown, again. He swore silently, if he had got this letter, it was likely that one would show up for Rock, as well, at his house. He scrunched the letter up and put it into his pocket, not noticing that one of the tournament sponsors a familiar name, Heinlein Corporation.

When he got home that night, he went straight to Rock's room and knocked.

"Come in," Rock said, as Billy opened the door, he saw that Rock did get one of those letters.

"So, one of those came, I got one too," Billy said, as he showed Rock the scrunched up letter.

"I'm going to enter," Rock said, my uncle's one of the people running the thing, and mum and dad said that he claimed that my birth mother was still alive, but they haven't been able to find anything, maybe we'll find the truth here."

Billy stood silent, thinking about what to say as Kaia knocked and came in. "So, you two have gotten invitations to that thing. My new mission just came in today, I'm ordered to go monitor that new competition, supposedly, some of the biggest crime organisations around the world have a hand in this."

It was then that Billy decided that he would have to compete too. But then he needed a team, naturally Kai would want to go, and he was good, at least good enough to fight Yagami to a standstill, and Iori was one of the top fighters. But they would need a third member, Kaia he thought, no he would not risk her safety, and her work would have to be done in secret, the fighting would make her too recognisable. Her value to the government was in her anonymity.

"Uncle Billy, are you going to go?" Rock asked.

"Yeah, I think I am, if I can get a team together, still need a third member though," he replied.

"I'll join you," Rock said," I rang mum and dad, and dad's getting his old mates together, and mum's going with her girlfriends. I suppose that Mr Kai is going to be there as well."

"That would be the best," Billy replied, now that there was a team of three, even though Rock was young, he was still a hell of a good fighter, and ready as well, and also he had a personal stake in this tournament.

Kai naturally assented to it, even though it did take a little bit of coaxing to get his wife and children to give their blessings to take the trip. He promised he'd come home safely, and then he'd take the family to a trip to Disneyland.

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Author's Notes

1. Just a short, lightprologue for the moment. I do have the next chapter written, and most of the one after that done too, but I'm still trying to work through the mechanics of the different fighting systems.

2. Please review if possible! Help is definitely most appreciated (especially people who have played KOF 2003 I would totally appreciate it if you could describe to me Billy's Leader Desperation Move)


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: This in no way derogates from SNK's legal rights or obligations.

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Chapter 1 - Arrival 

The flight landed in Southtown one week later, with Kai, Billy and Rock onboard. The flight had been long and boring, even though they flew business-class. There was still one week before the tournament would begin, and no one knew any of the details, except to show up at the ruins of the Howard Connection building. That Billy thought, was just wrong.

Coming off the flight, they came out to the airport, there were some of the die-hard HMK fans who had come to gawk, but since this was not a band thing, there weren't so many reporters. They collected their luggage and went to the hotel, taking 3 rooms, at the behest of the sponsors. All of the other non-local fighters were being billeted in the hotel by the sponsors as well. They dumped their luggage in their rooms, three of them right next to each other, and headed out to visit Rock's parents.

The black car that they had rented, drove along the streets of Southtown, towards the Bogard residence. The black hire car pulled up to the Bogard residence, and Rock got out, and opened the gate and went up to the front door and knocked. He waited for a while but no one answered. Rock then proceeded around the side to the dojo, where he heard sounds of fighting, where his mum and dad were probably practicing. He walked around to the door, and peeked inside.

It was actually his dad, training with his team, Rock knocked loudly, and greeted his father. "Hi, Uncle Andy, Joe," Rock said, as they stopped training. Terry, his father wiped his face with a towel that he got from a rack, and came up to him. "Where's mum," Rock asked.

"She's training with her team," Terry replied, "So you are back here, welcome home, son," squeezing him in a tight hug.

"Actually, I just came to say hi, and to see what's happening tonight, if you and mum are going to be eating together. And I guess, to also tell you that I've found a team."

"Really, that's great," Andy said, interjecting into the conversation, "maybe this time you'll find out all the stuff about your birth mum. Your mum and dad tried to find stuff, but there were only little bits. Kain Heinlein does keep a tight security on his information. By the way, who's in your team?"

"I'm teaming with Uncle Billy, and his friend Kai, while I was living in England with Uncle Billy; we trained each day, in the morning without fail." Rock replied.

"Oh, you mean you are teaming with that crazy guy who thought I was too much of a do-gooder? I heard that Iori wanted to kill him and that he had to ring Kyo for tips on handling Iori's death threats." Joe squeaked.

Rock laughed, "Actually even I don't know what he and Uncle Billy did to get YOUR girlfriend back, but I know that they certainly would not have hesitated in holding back from doing anything."

"So when do we get to meet this Kai?" Andy asked, being the only one in the Fatal Fury team who had not met Kai.

"I've already met him," Terry replied, "When Mary and I went to England with Rock, we had a couple of sparring sessions. He's quite good, good enough to fight here. I'll fill you in on my observations later."

"One more thing, dad, is there any more news on the tournament?" Rock asked.

"Rumours going around that they are trying new ways of holding each round, different types of matchups," Terry said. "But they are only rumours, everyone's to meet up at the ruins of your father's old building for some reason. Not much has leaked out, about this tournament, though there is rumour that there are a few new teams."

Andy continued, "It's rumoured that one of the other sponsors in putting in their own team, some organization called ADDES. And another of the teams is being formed by one of the Meira brothers, the one that didn't go missing."

Rock absorbed that information quickly, "so is family dinner still on tonight, otherwise, I'm eating with the team."

"You'll have to ask your mum, but I don't think she's going to cook tonight. Maybe tomorrow, though she would like to see you of course. She went down to King's bar this morning, for team training," Terry grinned, "and left the dojo for us to train in."

"Well, see you later, dad, I suppose that I should get training too, after we recover from the jetlag. Bye. Nice seeing you, Uncle Andy, Joe," Rock continued, as he ducked out and the Fatal Fury Team began training again. Rock returned to the waiting car where Billy and Kai had spent the time catching some quick sleep, or at least Billy was, and Kai was reading the information that Kaia had sent on this tournament.

He read about ADDES and Heinlein, just a few snippets here and there, nothing important, but he did read that his sister sends her love to Billy. He tapped Billy on the shoulder, waking him, saying, "my sis says she loves you."

Billy grunted in reply, and closed his eyes again. Every time there was a mission, it would be like this, but it was okay, he had learnt to deal with the space that he was given, when she was on mission. And she was somewhere here, maybe they could snatch some time together at the end of this tournament, once the mission finished.

The black rental car sped off, back to the hotel, to give the three some sleep.

Location – ADDES Secret Lab

Nagase was at a terminal in a lab, with simple blue tiled walls, on the orders of the head of ADDES, monitoring the screens which showed the vital signs, and brain wave patterns of the two experimental subjects. To the left, was Soiree Meira, who ADDES had kidnapped within the last year. He had been put through a memory manipulator program, the first step of which he had amnesia induced and then his memeory replaced with prefabricated memories. On the tube to the right, was Duke, an ex-employee, who had undergone both a physical enhancement treatment, injecting him with drugs to increase physical performance, and then had been put through the memory manipulator program. The vital signs seemed stable, as Nagase sighed. A voice came through the speaker box, it was the boss, "Nagase, two more hours and then they will be ready to come out of their tubes. Train with them, and make sure they are ready for the tournament in one week."

Location - Southtown Hotel

The following week passed by pretty quickly, and soon it was the day of the beginning of the tournament. Spending the week training away from every other team, the HMK team worked on their strategy and moves. In the afternoon, which they usually had off, they drove around Southtown, going around town, visiting at Geese's grave again, meeting some of the other fighters in the street, before heading off again for an evening training session.

The meeting was scheduled to occur at 9am. The HMK team left at 8am to go to the ruins of the Howard Connection building, having skipped training for the morning. When they arrived at ruins of the building they saw that there was a small podium set up where the front door of the old building was. There was a small table set up on the podium. Rock went up to the desk and gave his invitation to the person at the desk that registered the team. Kai and Billy looked around, and saw that some of the other fighters had already come. They saw some of the fighters that they had seen before, some of them they had not met.

When Rock came back, they stood and waited for the rest of the teams to come. Rock saw that his dad and his team had come, then his mum's team.

When Kyo and Iori's team came by Iori looked over and stared at Kai a look of hate, Billy returned the favour. Rock just smirked. Kyo, Iori and Shingo went to stand somewhere away, the things left unsaid, would be settled on the battlefield. He saw Alba Meira arrive with his team, and the surprisingly came a team with Duke, the man who had previously kidnapped Lilly, some woman, who Billy said was Nagase of ADDES, and the missing Soiree Meira. Nagase registered them as the ADDES team. "So, it seems as if they have turned the little brother against the older one," Billy remarked, as he saw the look of revulsion that Soiree gave his brother as the two teams passed each other. Everyone knew not to start any hostilities here. Billy looked closer at Duke, he had gotten a lot bigger since the last time they fought.

"And look at Duke, he's bulked up," Kai said.

"Yeah, he has, his group must have ties with ADDES then," Billy replied.

"I heard ADDES wanted him dead after he lost to Alba," Rock interjected, "but obviously they've come to an agreement or something. The woman, she must be the one keeping ADDES's eye on the other two."

They saw the Kyokugenryu team and the Anti-Kyokugenryu team give each other death stares from their positions. A blonde man with obnoxious hair walked up to Kyo and wished him good luck.

"That's Benimaru, one of Kyo's old friends." Rock said, pointing out the people that Kai did not know about.

Billy and Rock continued to point out the fighters to Kai, as the rest of the teams arrived. All in all, there were sixteen teams.

At 9am exactly, Kain Heinlein ascended the platform. He took his place behind the podium and began, "Welcome, on behalf of all the sponsors, to the new King of Fighters tournament. This year we are going to be doing something different. We're going to have a round robin tournament with four groups of four teams, with the top two teams moving on to the elimination rounds. And instead of using the new tag team system we used in the last tournament, we're going to randomise the way each fight is done. My secretary will explain the new fighting system." Kain stepped down from the podium, as the blonde secretary came up.

"So, as Mr Heinlein said, the way that each fight between each team of three is conducted is going to be randomised. We are bringing back the classic system where the three members fight one after the other no switching, a two versus two system with a striker, three one versus one battles - the winning team being the one that won two rounds. A simultaneous two versus two at once with a striker. Before each match begins the match type will be decided randomly. As will the teams in each group, which we will draw now." The blonde secretary drew back a curtain as there was a lotto ball machine, sixteen balls were put in, and rolled around. One by one they came out, as each team was drawn out. "So the groups are..." she continued as she read out what the machine had randomly decided. Now that each of the teams had been assigned a group, the secretary sat back down and Kain came to the stage again. "Good luck and may the best team win.First Matchwill begin tomorrow. Goodbye."

And he descended from the podium and left.

The teams having now received their assignment of groups, left as well. Iori looked maliciously happy, as his and Kyo's team had been drawn in the same group as the HMK team. Kai and Billy were specially looking forward to that match as well. Even though it would be early in the round robin stage, maybe they would have a second fight in the elimination phase. The first two matches would begin tomorrow, so the HMK team left and returned to their hotel, before going for evening training at a secret location, away from prying eyes.

* * *

Author's Notes 

1. Well, the tourney is about to begin. How will the team go. Especially since they are in the same group as Kyo and Iori's team.

2. Groups:  
Group A - Ash team, Benimaru Team, Fatal Fury Team, Women's team

Group B - HMK team, Kyo/Iori team, Korea Team, Ikari Warriors

Group C - Neo Psycho Soldiers, Outlaw team, MOTW, Anti-Ash team

Group D - ADDES team, Kyokugen, Anti-Kyokugen, K' team

3. Not all fights will be covered full length. But I will say that HMK fights will all be covered in full. And I can reveal that the HMK vs Kyo/Iori match took me over 4000 words to write, so it will most likely appear as two separate chapters.

4. Match Types: Classic 94-98, 2K2 style, Tag 2K3 style, 2v2 simultaneously with a striker style, Three separate 1on1s,2v2 with striker


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: This in no way derogates from SNK's legal rights or obligations.

Chapter 2 - First Match

The next morning, the first two matches were being fought. The first match would see the HMK team go against the Korea team. Kai had been told that all the members of the Korean team used variants of tae kwan do. The referee went up to the stage opposite the seating area and activated the random choice machine to decide the type of match that would be fought. The board showed all of the options, and the selector came to rest on the new type KOF 2003 style. Therefore, each team would have to choose a leader, and there would be tagging allowed. Rock, Billy and Kai now had one minute to decide who would be leader for this round.

The commentator in the skybox announced, "Today's match will see the new HMK team against the Korea team in a 2K3 style tag match. And as special commentator for all of today's matches we have Goro Daimon, ex-champion of KOF here with us. It's an honour Goro-san to have you here today with us." The crowd cheered, the announcer switched a button, turning off the broadcast of their voices to the stadium, for the viewers at home they continued, "So what are your thoughts on today's match?"

Goro thought for a while, before answering "The Korea team is a very good team, having been in so many KOF's before, the three fighters we've all seen before. What is interesting is the HMK team. Billy Kane, expert with a staff, we've also seen him before a couple of times. Going onto the second fighter, Rock Howard, biological son of Geese Howard, adopted son of Terry Bogard and also trained by him. Impressive bloodline, impressive trainer. I think he's going to fine out there. Now onto the third member, Kai Mellion. Details are very sketchy on this guy, he's a relative newcomer. But apparently he is on Yagami's death list, some of us saw a bit of what he is capable of last year, when he defused a fight between Iori and Billy, but other than that, I personally don't know much. But I can say if he is on Yagami's personal death list, he must be at least almost as good as Yagami himself."

Back down at the arena level, the HMK team began to confer. "Who do you think the Korea team will choose as leader?" Kai asked, having not fought any of them before.

"Most likely Kim, will be leader, as he is the master of the other two," Rock replied.

"But of course, they could be expecting that we would be thinking this and choose someone else." Billy interjected.

"Then should we worry about who is going to be their leader?" Kai asked, rubbing his chin between his thumb and forefinger.

"We should keep that in mind, but as to our team leader, I think Uncle Billy should do it for this match," Rock said, "It's mine and Kai's first KOF tourney, even though it may be what they predict."

"Yeah, that's good, it will keep the other teams guessing as well," Kai said.

Ding! the bell rang to signal the end of the minute, as the two teams submitted their orders. The Korea team was indeed being lead by Kim Kaphwan.

"So it was what we expected," Billy said, "I will be facing Kim first, be ready at any time to come in though," he continued, as he took to the centre of the arena, where the referee was waiting. He saw Kim stride confidently to his side of the arena, the referee separating them both.

"You got away with your crimes much too easily," Kim said.

"I got a full pardon," Billy replied, "that's enough for all of us."

"In the name of justice, I will win." Kim said, as he stared down Billy.

The referee took over and announced in a loud voice, as he moved back to the side of the arena, "Round One, ready Go."

Round One: HMK vs Korea Team

Billy and Kim circled around, waiting, looking for an opening. Billy jabbed out with his staff, a short jab, quick to release, quick to recover, probing Kim's defence. The longer reach afforded by the staff would allow him an advantage. Sooner or later, Kim would have to press the attack which would leave him open, or he would tag out, leaving a small opening. It was an attack, that Kim chose in the end, coming at Billy with Hangetsu Zan, his legs splaying apart in an axe kick motion. Billy blocked, and then countered with a hard blow with his staff, followed up by Dai Kaiten Geri, the second blow, folding Kim backwards, as Billy landed. He followed up the attack by jabbing out again with the staff, "now Rock," Billy ordered, as the end of the staff impacted on Kim's stomach, and then Billy lifted him, and threw him behind, as Rock jumped in and executed a Hard Edge, knocking elbow first into Kim, sending him accross the arena, as Billy tagged out.

The announcer in the box spoke out on the PA system, "And the HMK have switched fighters to Rock Howard, great use of strategy." Kim quickly scurried to his feet, and decided to tag out as well, sending Choi Bounge, his disciple and master of claws in, who hopped into the arena. "And now the Korea team has made a change, Choi Bounge for taking the place of Kim Kaphwan." Rock and Choi circled one another, much like Billy and Kai waiting for the other to present an opening. Rock lashed out with a overhead cross up kick, hoping to catch Choi by surprise, but the canny little fighter was onto the trick as he rolled backwards and then launched into a Senpuu Hien Zashi, flinging his body with claws stretched out at the front at Rock, connecting with a first hit, then spinning away to land safely a distance away from Rock, who fired a Renpuu Ken, catching Choi by surprise with how quickly he had recovered from the previous attack.

Rock felt refreshed, and more alive now, that the adrenaline was beginning to pump through his body. Seeing that the Renpuu Ken hit, he followed it up with another Hard Edge. He set himself again, as he waited for Choi to come at him once more. He was beginning to understand the flow of the fight. Choi attacked again, this time Kaiten Hien Zan, rolling into a little ball, claws slashing out as he rolled around, Rock backstepped, avoiding the first part of the attack, but Choi chained into a second attack, coming out of the roll with a diving claw attack, forcing Rock to block. Rock jabbed out with a quick punch, catching Choi in the face, and then continued the attack by throwing a Raging Storm, as energy released from Rock's body, into a flame engulfing both him and Choi.

"Wow, look at that Raging Storm just pulled out by Rock Howard, the energy is so intense even I can feel it up here in the skybox. The Korea team is in trouble. Don't you think?" the announcer said as he turned to the other commentator.

"Yes, that Raging Storm is reminiscent of his father's power and it looks just as powerful," the other commentator replied, "this kid is good, but we still haven't seen much of the third team member Kai Mellion yet, and we seem to have no data on his fighting style, save to say that Goro-san told us that he was on Iori Yagami's death list. I'm sure all of us can't wait."

"Yagami's death list? Serious? Or is it just a rumour...if he's on Yagami's death list, then he must be good," the first commentator replied. (A/N: Hehe...Iori has a personal death list headed Kyo followed by Kai :P)

Back at the arena level, the Raging Storm had just finished, the last blast of energy sending Choi flying to the other side of the arena. Rock breathed deeply, setting himself in a ready position. Choi did not get up. The referee announced, "KO, Choi Bounge is unable to fight. Korea team, please make your second fighter ready." Chang Koehan strode forward, whirling his big iron ball, which he held by an attached chain. "Round 2, ready fight," the referee said again, as he withdrew to the side of the arena.

Rock knew that he was tired, so the plan had been formulated, at the first chance he had, he would tag out. Rock waited for Chang to attack, and then he wanted to chain his attack into a tag.

"It looks like that Rock is waiting, but I'm sure that he's tired, the first commentator said, "I think he's going to tag out soon."

"I agree," Goro replied, "fighting two fighters in a row is not a good thing."

Back in the arena, Rock still waited, and then Chang attacked, swinging the iron ball at him, as Rock leaned back to avoid the attack, catching the wind blown, blowing his hair back, as he then reversed into a Hard Edge attack sending his elbow into the stomach of Chang, pushing him back who to his credit seemed to hardly feel it at all, as Kai came in overhead with Chaos Scythe descending towards Chang's head. Rock tagged out, as Chang blocked, the overhead and counterattacked with a quick jab of the iron ball, hitting Kai, pushing him slightly backwards. Chang followed up with another attack, jabbing the iron ball forward again but this time, it was blocked.

Back in the commentator's box, "Well it looks like Rock has made the tag out, like Goro-san and you both said. Now we can all watch Kai Mellion in action. I wonder what he will pull out?"

"I don't know," the other commentator replied, from next to him, "we haven't seen enough of him to predict anything."

"He's just waiting, for the right opportunity," Goro said, "to attack."

As if he had heard what Goro had said, Kai pressed an attack, unleashing a Chaos Flurry, rapid fists, palms and strikes being blocked by Chang. "This is going too slow," Kai thought, "time to hot things up." He summoned chaosfire, just a little, enough to envelop his hands, so that each attack within the Chaos Flurry would now do extra damage. He pressed the attack, going with speed, against a slower opponent it would be harder for them to block. To his surprise, Chang suddenly stopped blocking as he struck out, Chang retaliated by creating a groundquake around him, stopping Kai's attack and then following it by swinging the ball down at him. Kai upped the chaosfire so that it provided some protection as the iron ball impacted on his arms; he twisted his legs around Chang's and rolled, trying to cause Chang to trip. For a moment it looked as if he would not fall, but then Kai applied some extra power and Chang fell. Kai withdrew as Chang fell and got up, as Chang recovered as well.

Chang attacked again this time using an aerial attack, launching himself into the air for a belly flop attack, which was duly avoided, as Kai backstepped out of the way, countering with Chaos Uppercut, his chaosfire backed fist sending Chang up into the air. Rising into the air, with a choas scythe attack, he brought his leg down with a knockdown blow, sending Chang's body crashing into the ground. Kai landed and pressed the attack with another Chaos Flurry, striking with his palm and then fist and then an overhand strike, then another fist, palm and strike. Palm, fist, fist, strike, palm, fist, pressing the attack, going at speeds barely able to be followed by the eye. The flurry of blows continued to impact on Chang, pushing him backwards, and then followed up with a Chaos Uppercut

"It looks like Kai is pressing the attack quite well, I can barely follow the speed of his combinations," the first commentator said.

"Yes, but those blows don't do that much damage, he's probably just softening Chang up for a Desperation Move or another hard hitting combo, but he has to watch out for a counter attack," Goro replied.

Chang counterattacked whirling his iron ball around in a circular motion, forcing Kai to stop, buying some space. Kai shot out a crouching kick, intending to trip Chang, passing under the iron ball, but Chang skipped backwards, avoiding the attack and countered by bringing his iron ball down, forcing him to block the full weight of the heavy iron ball on his arms. He lashed out again with his foot, this time succeeding in tripping Chang, giving him time to get up, and prepare himself again. He attacked with an overhead axe kick, hitting once and then a second hit. He followed up with a backhand fist, and then another fist.

"Look, they've switched," the second commentator said, as Billy came in with an overhead staff attack, and then unleashed Dai Senpuu attack, multiplying his staff into thousands, smashing down on Chang, knocking him out. "Chang is unable to battle. Round 2 goes to the HMK team."

"Now it's down to Kim Kaphwan, the leader of the Korea team, he's gotta beat three, looks like its going to be a very stiff task," the second commentator said.

"Yes, especially since the HMK team have been tagging with such strategy," Goro replied.

"Round 3, ready, go" the referee announced, as Billy faced Kim.

"So, its you and me, Kaphwan," Billy said, "Watch carefully."

"Justice will let me win," Kim replied.

Billy led off with another staff jab, as Kim came over with a Hangetsu Zan, bringing his leg down on crashing onto Billy's staff. Billy backstepped, and then launched into a quick Dai Kaiten Geri, blocked by Kim.

Kim countered with a jabbing kick to the midsection, hitting Billy, and followed up with a three kick combination, high, middle and then low. Kim pressed the attack, landing another strong tae kwan do combination. Billy reeled backwards. Billy decided to take a more defensive approach, waiting, hoping to use the superior team numbers.

"Look, Billy is now waiting for Kim to attack, hopefully to punish him on the counter-attack, and he knows that Kim has to attack if he is going to win," the first commentator said.

Billy held his staff in a defensive position, waiting for the right moment to counter. Then the opening came, a jabbing kick by Kim, quick, but not quick enough, as Billy dodged around it and countered with a hard staff hit.

"They switched again," the first commentator said, as Rock came in with a Hard Edge into a Rising Tackle attack, "switched again," the commentator continued, as Kai now tagged in with a trademark Chaos Scythe. The quick tagging continued, Billy coming in with a Flying Cane Attack, followed by Whirlwind Cane, scoring seven hits, as the staff spun around, and then finished it off with a hard uppercut with the staff, Rock came in again with a jumping kick and then grabbed Kim as he was coming down, into a throw, sending him across the arena.

"Wow, what a lethal combination of tagging, making full use of their numerical advantage to just attack, attack and attack some more," the first commentator said, as now Kai, was there with another Chaos Uppercut, sending Kim flying away, again as Billy continued the attack with another Flying Cane Attack, this time scoring a decisive blow.

"Kim is unable to fight. Victory goes to the HMK team," the referee announced.

"Well, there's this match done, a very impressive victory by the newcomers. But their next match is against the Kusanagi, Yagami team," the commentator said, "that is going to be one good match, going by what we have seen today."

"Yes, it is going to be a classic," the second commentator replied, "well on behalf of all the commentary team, this is good-bye for today, and we'll come back tomorrow with the next match."

Billy, Kai and Rock, down at the arena area, got together and celebrated the team's first victory, in the first match.

"You showed that justice man," Kai said, laughing. Kai did not think much of justice, that was more his sister's thing, laws and things like that. He was all about having fun whilst doing whatever he wanted.

"Yeah, you did," Rock added, "Justice man, good one." Rock did not think much of Kim either, since Kim was one of the ones who undoubtedly would judge him for being a Howard.

"You mean we showed them," Billy replied. "Let's go."

The HMK team exited the stadium, knowing that they would not have to fight until next week, when their next match came up. Meanwhile, they would scout out some of the other teams when they had their matches, but that was for tomorrow, and some of the next days. This afternoon they would rest, and enjoy their first victory as a team.

* * *

Author's Notes 

1. Well here is the first match as written by me, hopefully it was okay. Any advice would be much appreciated.

2. Thanks to reviewers. Also this is fixed for spelling...I forgot to do this in the first version. Apologies

3. Mignon (and a lot of KOF ppl who I didn't include as fighters)will be making an appearance as a guest commentators.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: This in no way derogates from SNK's legal rights or obligations.

Chapter 3

Ash team vs Fatal Fury Team: Day 2

Ash's team came out the left side, the Fatal Fury Team, came out on the right. The referee came out to the middle and activated the random selector machine, which would select the type of match that this match was going to be. He flicked the switch as the display on the stadium scoreboard flickered from one choice to another, finally stopping.

"Looks like it's going to be a set of three one on one matches," the first announcer said, for the benefit of everyone watching at home.

"So how do you think that this match is going to pan out," the second commentator said, "We have today with us, young witch in training Mignon Beart, to provide commentary today. Good morning Miss Mignon."

Mignon spoke into the microphone, "It is good to be here this morning, peace and happiness to the whole world," she said, in her cute, cheery voice. "Today's match pits three separate fights. Then it depends on who is fighting whom."

The referee then pressed another button, as the randomiser machine picked out the three matches.

"Looks like it is going to be Ash Crimson leading off against Terry Bogard, followed by Andy Bogard against Ron, and then finishing with Joe Higashi against Elisabeth Blantorche," the second commentator stated, brimming with excitement after yesterday's first match.

"Well, then," Mignon stated, giggling like a little girl, "I think that this will be a close one, I haven't seen many of them fight yet. But I do know that Ash Crimson is one of the very good fighters."

Billy, Kai and Rock slid in to the seating at the stadium, they joined the rest of the crowd who were not fighting in the morning, to watch the matches.

They saw Ash win, unfortunately, by unleashing his Thermidor Desperation Move, giving Ash team the lead and the first victory. The second match victory belonged to Andy, as he beat Ron with a well timed combination attack culminating in a Chou Reppa Dan, leaving it at one match a piece. Now it was all down to the last match, where Joe would take on Elisabeth.

"Look at that clown fight," Billy said, as they saw Joe struggle to counter Elisabeth's moves, laughing out loud as Joe fell on his butt.

"I still think that Joe is going to win," Rock replied, "He's just hamming her up for a counter attack, trying to make her overconfident."

Kai just puffed away, cigarette in mouth, grunting an I agree, to Rock's assessment, of the fight. Sure enough, Joe did launch a massive counter attack, a kick combination into a punch combination, his fists moving very fast, "You should watch this," Kai said, between cigarette puffs, "He's a lot faster than before, when I last fought him properly."

The crowd saw him follow the punch combination with a knockdown attack and then Joe unleashed a massive Hurricane Fist, throwing his opponent into the air, the body twirling upwards through the spiral and then Joe launched himself up into the air, knee extended, flaming, as he knocked the falling Elisabeth to the other side, where she crumpled against the stadium wall.

"Told you so," Rock said, Kai just puffed smoke at Billy's direction.

"The winner is Joe Higashi and so the Fatal Fury Team is the winner," the referee announced. The crowd cheered, Ash sulked.

Benimaru Team vs Women Fighter's Team: Day 3

The next day was the third match of the tournament. The two announcers in the commentator's box took up their usual positions. Today though, instead of Mignon or Goro, they had Takuma Sakazaki join them to provide colour commentary.

"Sakazaki-san, your daughter-in-law is fighting today, what are your thoughts on today's match," the first commentator asked.

"Hmph. My daughter-in-law is as good as any of the fighters in this match today. Though I think that Shen Woo acquitted himself well last tournament, and he's a relative new comer so may still have a few surprises," Takuma continued, "That said, the three ladies are also very well proven veterans of KOF. They have the better experience, which should help them win out in the end."

"But, Sakazaki-san, you have to admit that Benimaru has been in the most KOF tournaments out of anyone there today," the second commentator announced.

"Pfft, only because he latched onto Kyo," Takuma replied.

"Whatever, let's just go to the match," the first commentator said.

Down at the stadium level the referee announced the type of match that it was going to be, the randomiser had landed this match as a simultaneous 2v2 with striker type match.

"This should be very interesting," the first commentator said, "this is an entirely new concept developed by this year's sponsors. It should be very interesting with 4 fighters going at it at the same time."

"The rules are that each team will have two fighters in the arena at the same time, and a striker, who can be called in to help. The team that wins is the team that knocks both members of the opposite team out," the first commentator said.

Giving his expert opinion, Takuma stated, "Well, I think that the first team to lose a member will be at a distinct disadvantage from there on."

The battle began in earnest as the Women Fighter's Team chose Mai and King to fight, and the Benimaru team chose Benimaru and Seth. Mary and Shen Woo would be the strikers for each team. Having formed a definite strategy, the Women's team decided to team up and concentrate on taking out one member of the opposing team.

"Look, they're trying to concentrate on attacking one opponent first," the commentator said, as King and Mai teamed up on Seth, knocking him down with a flying fan, whilst King lashed out with a series of kicks afterwards, whilst Mai turned her attention to keeping Benimaru away. The match continued, as the strikers both became involved, cancelling out each other's attacks, or helping their team string combination attacks in a 2 on 1 situation.

Finally, King and Mary were able to put enough pressure and do enough damage in one solid combination, that allowed them the first KO, but it was followed soon after by Mai's loss as she was also KO'ed. This left King against Benimaru, both users of the Muay Thai style, but each having their own different interpretation. The strikers were being used to cancel out each others attacks, as King and Benimaru faced each other.

"It's devolved into a 1 on 1 situation now," the second commentator said, "who do you think will win?"

"My daughter in law," Takuma said, "she's looking the stronger of the two." And he was right, King unleashed a combination attack with a lot of fast kicks, knocking Benimaru out with an Illusion Dance desperation move.

"The winner is the Women's team," the referee announced. The crowd cheered again, knowing that they would be back tomorrow for the fourth match.

Kyokugen Team vs K' Team: Day 4

"We're going to have a Group D match today," the commentating team announced, as the participants in the match were decided, "And now we're going to decide the match type." The randomiser was activated, scrolling through the options. The randomiser landed on a the 2003 Tag Style, as the two teams chose their respective leaders.

"And today, we have Adelheid Bernstein to commentate for us, being one of the joint sponsors of the tournament; we are very privileged to have him today. Mr Bernstein, how are you this morning," the second commentator asked.

"I'm fine, thank you very much," Adelheid replied, "However, I am here to commentate, not talk about me. Today's match we see K', Kula and Maxima go up against Ryo, Yuri and Robert. Now the Kyokugenryu team," he gave a little gentleman's cough as he cleared his throat, "they all use very similar moves, but each has a distinct style. On the other hand, the K' team uses three different styles of fighting, each different yet just as deadly as each other."

"Which team do you think will win," the first commentator asked.

"My pick would be the Kyokugenryu team, they seem to work together a lot better, and there is better potential for synergy and chaining combination attacks," Adelheid replied in his snotty voice.

The fight began, as the leaders of each team took up their positions.

"Round 1, ready, go," the referee announced, as the two fighters began pacing and probing at each other's defences. The fight began in earnest as Ryo unleashed a combination of kicks and punches on K', who then tagged out to Kula Diamond, who returned the favour, by unleashing an orb of ice from her hands, the needle-like protrusions hitting Ryo, pushing him backwards as he was forced to block. He switched out soon after, Robert taking over, and coming in with a flying kick, blocked.

The fight went on, first Kula was knocked out, quickly followed by Robert, Yuri and Maxima fought each other hard, knocking each other out. So it was left to Ryo and K', the battle of the leaders to decide the winner of the match.

"Wow, looks like K' has scored a decisive blow," the first commentator said, as K' hit his leader Desperation Move.

"It's all over, the K' Team have won, with a massive leader desperation move," the second commentator said, as the referee announced the winner, down at the arena level.

Location: ADDES offices

Kaia, now installed as a secretary at ADDES organisations front company, began working, taking messages, just like every normal secretary would do. She had already taken into account the building plans, knew where all the security cameras were, even the hidden ones in the pot plants. Everything was being heavily monitored, but she was just there to observe and note things in her brain. Company gossip did not come easily though, some of the workers were inclined to shut up. But there were musings of a secret project, which company resources were being poured into.

"That must be the project," she thought, as she continued to type out the dictation that she was being given, her fingers tapping over the keyboard at a lightning pace. All she could do for now was to keep her ears and eyes open. Her boss, did however, have important meetings with the Big Boss, who she knew was a man by the name of Jivatma, from the briefing given, kindly provided by the intelligence agencies and Heidern Mercenary group. Her boss never talked about what happened in those meetings though. It was a strict need-to-know basis. She continued typing away, hopefully she would find something soon.

Location: Secret Headquarters of the Heralds

Shion, the female looking Herald and Mukai, the two Heralds that Orochi had entrusted with his plans, were observing the tournament through their computer screens. Botan sat nonchalantly on a couch nearby.

"So how is our little exercise going," he asked, "I told you ADDES would be useful, but you would not listen, otherwise Master would have already taken over the world."

Shion looked up and replied, "shut your trap, everything is going to plan, the fighters don't know that they are gathering energy for us. What's more, everyone is focused on that girly Ash Crimson that they aren't even bothering to look closely at the tournament organisers. A very useful distraction." He went back to looking at the computer monitors.

* * *

Author's Notes

1. Thanks for reviews. And yes, I know that in your story it won't be that easy, but I can claim numerical supremacy, a 3 v1 is always most likely going to be heavily in favour of the three. Otherwise that would be unrealistic.

2. Enka, what character mistakes have I been making? I would love to hear your opinion and then I'll see what I can do about it

3. Lizza, as promised there is a Mignon cameo.

4. Now getting onto business: This is just filler, next chapter will probably be filler - the rest of the first round. Then I will lead off with the explosive two chapter fight that I have been promising.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: This in no way derogates from SNK's legal rights or obligations.

Chapter 4

Neo Psycho Warriors Team vs Mark of the Wolves Team: Day 5

"This morning we are having a Group C match," the commentator said into the microphone in his booth, between the Neo Psycho Soldier Team and the Mark of the Wolves Team."

Rock, Billy and Kai slipped into their seats at the arena, they were here, like they were most other days to scope out the competition. The randomiser was activated as the type of match was chosen. This time the match chosen was a classic style match.

The Neo Psycho Soliders were starting with Sie, followed by Duo Lon and then Athena would finish. The Mark of the Wolves team ordered themselves this way: Bonne Jenet, Hotaru and then Tizoc. And so the first round began with Sie Kensou against Bonne Jenet. "Round 1, begin," the referee said.

The two fighters launched into an attack-defend sequence, Sie throwing balls of Psycho energy at irregular intervals, playing a keep-away game. The match proceeded, one KO to the Psycho Soldiers, followed by one the other way. The second fighters of each team were duelling it out, then it was another one to the Mark of the Wolves Team, and then again, the other way, to the Psycho Soldiers team. Athena was facing Tizoc, as she jumped up in the air and drew on her psycho powers to turn into a glowing ball of energy, descending from the sky, and then finishing with a low kick, which hit Tizoc's legs out from under him.

The match finished pretty quickly after that, with victory going to the Psycho Warriors.

From up in their seats, Rock, Billy and Kai, had gotten a pretty good idea of how the fighters from each team fought, useful intelligence for if and when they would fight.

AlbaMeira Team vs Outlaw Team: Day 6

"Another Group C match today, after what we had yesterday," the commentator announced, "we're going to be in for a classic."

"Today, we have special guest, Mignon Beart with us again, to give her usual analysis. Good morning to you, Miss Mignon"

"Good morning to everyone too," she said in her usual perky voice.

Today's match will see the team sponsored and bankrolled by Alba Meira against the Outlaw team. What are your thoughts on the match, Miss Mignon?" the first commentator asked.

"Well, my tip is the AlbaMeira team, they were pretty good in both the Maximum Impact tournaments, though the rules are slightly different, he did win it after all," she replied.

The match proceeded and sure enough, Mignon's witchy powers predicted the outcome correctly. The AlbaMeira team won.

Location: Offices of ADDES front company

Kaia looked at the stack of papers on the desk left by her boss as he had hurriedly run out of the office, late for one of those special meetings. She sifted through the pieces of paper, taking care to not look at them as she arranged them into a neat pile, the camera brooch she was wearing was feeding real time images of what was on each piece to her glasses. Then one piece caught her eye. On the top of that piece of paper was the word Orochi, followed by the word Heralds and Summoning. Looking as if she naturally fumbled the piece of paper as it fell onto the floor, she picked it up, again without looking at it, her camera brooch taking a full photo of it. She decided that it would be reported to her superiors, and Kai, who freelanced for her sometimes, as an extra infiltrator or as an assassin, when needed. This would have to wait until she finished up though.

ADDES Team vs Anti-Kyokugenyu Team: Day 7

"We're having the second Group D match today," the announcer said, "It's going to be the ADDES team against the Anti-Kyokugenryu team. This will be an exciting match won't it?"

"yes it will, and today, we have special guest commentator Takuma, back with us," the second commentator said.

"Welcome back, Takuma-san," the first commentator said.

"It's nice to be back," Takuma-san replied.

"So what are your thoughts on today's match?" the second commentator asked.

"Well, I would have to favour the ADDES team, today," Takuma replied, "they have much better fighters."

Down at the arena level, the two teams were ready, as today's match was chosen to be a New Style Tag Match. The leader of the ADDES team was to be Nagase, and the Anti-Kyokugenryu team chose Eiji. The match began as the referee announced its beginning.

The match proceeded, the ADDES team just proceeded with a very brutal beatdown attack, with Duke's extraordinary power game, the muscles on his body just rippled, as a result of the enhancement. Soiree on the other hand, moved fast, his Capoiera style quickly gaining him a victory, as Duke had tagged out to him. Nagase came back and finished off the match, by using her special disk attacks.

"Victory goes to the ADDES team," the referee announced, as the crowd cheered, like they always did, for them it was exciting.

Kyo/Iori Team vs Ikari Warriors: Day 8

"Last match for the first round of the Group Stage, today is a Group B match," the first commentator stated.

"And we led off with a Group B match too," the second commentator said.

"This should be very interesting," the first commentator replied.

"Look, the match is about to begin," the second commentator said.

Kai, Rock and Billy sat up in the arena watching, since their next bout was against Kyo and Iori's team, it was important to watch them, to get a feel for how they fought and what strategy they liked using, both individually and as a team.

The match began, this time, a 2v2 with striker match, Kyo and Iori against Leona and Clark. The first two rounds finished quite quickly, with Leona and Iori taking each other out in a quite spectacular fashion. Kyo and Clark began to fight, Kyo's Kusanagi style against the grappling style and Heidern Techniques of Clark. Clark waited for Kyo to make his move, before going for a riposte of his own, countering with throws and other holds. Clark applied a Rolling Cradle on Kyo, tumbling around and then throwing Kyo onto the ground. Kyo got up, tired, knowing that he had to win quickly somehow. He started an attack sequence, beginning with a flaming punch, which was blocked, but he followed it with a jumping kick, into a 88 Shiki, hitting low, and then he kept up the pressure with a flaming punch, flaming punch, elbow combo, a knockdown blow, dust billowing as Clark hit the ground.

Ralf rushed in to attack, but Shingo came and stopped his attack with his own striker move. Kyo and Clark continued to face each other, Clark went for a Shining Wizard only to be countered by Kyo's Oniyaki, knocking Clark into the air, he then quickly finished it with a Orochi Nagi attack, winning the match with a KO.

The crowd cheered their hearts out, as the two teams exited, headed for recuperation before their next match. Rock, Billy and Kai, had all taken good notes on their next opponents. Their next match would be soon, starting in two days time, the second round would begin.

* * *

Author's Notes 

1. LSN, Shion and Mukai might not like each other, in fact they may hate each other, but they fear Orochi more, and what Orochi wants he/it gets.

2. Another crappy filler chapter - I promise that the next chapter will be good. (cos' it will be the HMK vs Kyo/Iori match)

3. I think I'm not going to write anymore of these filler chapters and just tell you guys the results instead. Or would you prefer these crappy fillers?

4. Looks like that some information on the Heralds Plan has slipped out...what will happen with it?

* * *

Lilly's Corner: extract from her diary, date 15/6/2005 

Dear Diary,

Today, big brother ruined another of my dates with Joe. Gargh! That stupid brother of mine needs to get his own girl to keep him busy. If this does not improve I'll need to hold girlfriend auditions for him soon, otherwise Joe and I will never get anywhere, with him watching us like a hawk.

Do you know what he did? As Joe leaned in to kiss me goodbye, my brother (a bother isn't he?) threw his damned staff and conked Joe right on the head, and nearly hit me as well, though he claims that he's soooo good that he could hit Joe and never hit me. I still gave him a piece of my mind though. But everything just points to this one thing...HE NEEDS HIS OWN GIRLFRIEND...(so that he'll stop butting into my own love life)

Even though there are plenty of nice looking females coming to our new laundromat, he doesn't give any of them a second look. And he does not stay out late anymore, andhe gave mea bloody curfew now on school nights! Back in Southtown, I never had a curfew, but then again he was never around to enforce the thing, so I guess it would have been pointless. But this curfew really sucks. And if I'm not how by the curfew, he swears that he will murder Joe. Though I like life here much better than Southtown, that place was rather dangerous. At least here, I could make normal friends and not have them murdered by Geese's and Billy's crime rivals.

Once I was late home from the library, and I met him just as he was about to go out, to look for me he said, because that good for nothing boyfriend of yours kept you too late on a school night, before I had any chance to say that I was at the library, studying for my mid-term exam. Anyway, this is just so frustrating, I wish that I could have like a week alone, with Joe, away from London. But big brother would never allow it, and if I left without his permission, he would actually really MURDER Joe.

Lots of hugs and kisses,

Lilly Kane


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: This in no way derogates from SNK's legal rights or obligations.

Chapter 5: Showdown Part 1 - Battle of the Young Guns

Day 11: Ash Team vs Women's Team

Result: Ash Team Victory in a classic style match

Day 12: ADDES Team vs K'Team

Result: Victory to the ADDES team in a new style match

Day 13: Benimaru Team vs Fatal Fury Team

Result: Fatal Fury Team win in a double style match

Day 14: Neo Psycho Soldiers Team vs Outlaw Team

Result: Victory to the Neo Psycho Soldiers in a set of 3 1v1 matches

Day 15: HMK team vs Kyo/Iori Team

It was the morning of their next match, this one, against the Kyo/Iori Team. Even though this was only part of the round robin stage, everyone knew the personal bad blood between certain members of the two teams, and knew that they would all be going for broke. Both teams turned up at the arena, the referee separating them, Kyo, Iori and Shingo all sported their usual clothes, as did Billy, Kai and Rock. The referee stepped into the arena to begin to randomiser, which would determine the type of match that this would be. The options were put up on the stadium screen, and the machine began to scroll through them. The referee hit the button and the scrolling began to slow down, and then it landed on Classic Style.

"Today's match will be classic style, with no switching allowed. Three on three one after the other," the first announcer said, as he welcomed all the fans on television. "And again, today we have Goro-san with us, to provide commentary. Hello again."

"Good morning," Goro replied, "this match I have been waiting for."

"Who do you think will win, Goro-san?" the second commentator asked.

"Based on the past, we know that both Iori and Kyo are brilliant fighters, and they should be very familiar with this style. And both teams had very impressive first match victories, especially the HMK team, they strategised very well, but this is an entirely different match. And we also don't know Kai's full capabilities yet, he may still have a few surprises for us."

"So who do you tip to win, Goro-san?" the second commentator asked.

"It's very hard to call this one, depends on the order that the two teams pick. And of course, there is the bad blood between members of the two teams." Back down at the arena, the referee had just received the order that the teams would be going in.

"The two teams have chosen their order. Round 1 will be between Shingo Yabuki of the Kyo/Iori Team and Rock Howard of the HMK team." the referee announced as the commentator's relayed the information to everyone else.

Shingo and Rock took to the arena, as Billy and Kai waited on one side, Iori and Kyo on the other.

"So both the teams have decided to lead off with their young guns," the second commentator remarked.

Round 1: Classic 2K2 style - Rock Howard vs Shingo Yabuki

"Round 1, ready go," the referee said, as he withdrew to the side of the arena. The two fighters circled one another, evaluating each other, probing the other's defences, with quick jabs.

"He fights exactly the same style as Kyo," Rock thought, as he probed away "which means maybe long range attacks would work well." Rock backstepped and threw a Renpuu Ken, the blue energy wave flying at Shingo, who jumped over it, but was too far to get an attack on any sort. "He does not have Kyo's flames either," Rock remembered, as he threw a second Renpuu Ken, playing a keep away tactic, thinking that Shingo would have to throw a risky attack to get closer. "But I had better not get too predictable," Rock thought, as he kept distance between him and Shingo, throwing Renpuu Ken's at random intervals, keeping Shingo guessing. "If one of them hits I could press the attack," Rock thought, "but so far he's been avoiding them pretty well."

Up in the announcer's box, the second commentator said, "Looks like Rock Howard is playing to Shingo's lack of long-range attack in this fight."

"It's a good strategy too, since Shingo does lack a fireball type attack, as long as Rock is patient, I think he'll wear Shingo down," Goro replied.

Back down in the arena, Shingo tried getting in closer, btu was having a hard time as Renpuu Ken's kept coming and he had to dodge them. Sooner or later he would have to get in close, and it seemed as if Rock Howard was barely breaking a sweat (A/N: and building super bars...LOL). Shingo instead blocked the next attack, the energy wave blinding him just for part of a second. It was then that Rock attacked, with Rage Run Shift, quickly covering the distance between them and then appearing on the other side where Shingo barely managed to block a fist flying towards him, barely. But now was the time to counter if possible, he threw in a couple of punches, left, right, high, low, all blocked by Rock. Rock responded by throwing a jab kick with his left foot, hitting Shingo, but not with much power.

Shingo fought back with 114 Shiki: Aragami Mikansei, a turning fist which caught Rock by surprise. If it had been Kyo he was fighting, he knew that this would have turned into a combo attack, but Shingo just wasn't at Kyo's level yet, Rock thought, as he countered with a quick jab, and then chaining his attack into a second jab, and then executing a Rising Tackle, spiralling upwards, knocking Shingo away. As he landed, Shingo was already up and threw a quick Shingo kick, which Rock blocked as he landed. He waited a split second for Shingo to come within range, as he lashed out with a high kick, then grabbed him, executing a Shinkuu Nage into a Rassetsu ending. Shingo recovered quickly, and this time attacked with 115 Shiki: Dokugami Mikansei, knocking Rock down to the ground, and then quickly followed it up with a kick, but Rock had learned a couple of tricks, and he simply caught Shingo's other leg between his and rolled, tripping Shingo, sending him crashing to the ground.

Both the fighters recovered, the dust billowing off them. Rock backstepped again, throwing a Renpuu Ken, leaving Shingo with no choice but to block the attack. Rock moved forward again, this time using his Rage Run Dunk instead, hoping that Shingo would get suckered into thinking that he was going to repeat his Rage Run Shift, punch combination. He could see that slight bit of hesitation in Shingo's movement which just allowed him enough time to hit with the overhead attack. He then pressed the attack with a short jab, knocking Shingo's head backwards, breaking his vision for a moment, enough time for Rock to launch into a Deadly Rave Neo, the flurry of blows unyielding, imitating Geese's move, and then finishing with an energy blast, sending Shingo flying away. Rock, breathed deeply, that last attack had taken a lot out of him, but then he saw that it had been enough. And that was all Kai and Billy had asked of him, when they had been talking strategy.

"Shingo Yabuki is unable to fight, the winner is Rock Howard," the referee announced.

Back up in the commentators' booth the first commentator said, "Well, looks like Rock Howard won the first one."

"But it was against the weakest member of the Kusanagi team. Kyo and Iori both have a lot more experience and firepower," the second commentator replied.

"Yes, but it does give the HMK team the advantage, having won the first round," Goro commented, "And though Kyo and Iori could both beat two opponents on their given day, it is still a very hard thing to pull off, especially given the bad blood between parts of these two teams."

"Looks like Kyo Kusanagi is going next, leaving Iori till last. Is that a sound strategy?" the first commentator asked.

"I don't know," the second replied, "Goro-san?" he asked, passing the question on.

"I suppose that maybe Iori knows more about Kai's fighting style and there is the death list, I suppose Iori is giving himself every chance to beat Kai, he's probably confident that he can beat Billy as well, afterwards. He's also probably told Kyo as much as he can, btu there is a lot of difference between hearing about a fighter's style and experiencing it first hand," Goro replied.

Round 2: Rock Howard vs Kyo Kusanagi

"Second round, Rock Howard against Kyo Kusanagi. Ready, Go." This time Rock's strategy was different. He was going to chip away as much of Kyo's energy as possible. This would require a different strategy to his previous fight against Shingo. He threw a Renpuu Ken at Kyo, who countered with his own fireball. Rock pressed on with his strategy, by throwing a double Renpuu Ken, this time, forcing Kyo to block. Kyo began to close the distance between him and Rock. Rock let him close the distance, before launching a jabbing kick, quick, expecting Kyo to block, but he just took the hit and countered with a flaming punch to Rock's midsection, followed by another punch and then a knockdown blow. Rock recovered quickly, rolling away and then coming out with a tripping attack, which Kyo jumped over. But Rock was quick this time, and scored a hard elbow hit with his Hard Edge attack, pushing Kyo back. He breathed deeply, tired from fighting for so long. He knew that he would not be able to keep it up forever.

Kyo saw that Rock was tiring, as did the commentators, "looks like Rock Howard is tiring. But that is to be expected; after all he's been there the whole fight so far. Kyo's definitely the fresher fighter."

Kyo charged and pressed the attack, waiting for the right moment to unleash a combo. Then he saw his chance, as Rock mistepped, he attacked with a punch, then an overhead axe kick into 114 Shiki: Aragami, followed by 128 Shiki: Konokizu into a 127 Shiki: Yanosabi, knocking Rock into the ground with the last blow. He followed up pressing the attack, forcing Rock to have to block. He knew that soon he would break through Rock's guard, so he kept going.

"Looks like Kyo is pressing the attack, hoping to retain as much as possible for the next match, I think," the first commentator said, as Rock landed a quick counterattack a jumping downward punch, into a sideways kick, into another punch into a Renpuu Ken, the energy wave hitting Kyo forcing him backwards. Kyo came on again, landing a low kick, then a 75 Shiki:Kai, the double kick sending Rock backwards, as Kyo quickly followed up with another blow, jamming Rock's arms as he defended himself, leaving him exposed to a quick ducking trip kick by Kyo. Rock was really feeling the fatigue of having fought for most of two rounds now, as he blocked Kyo's next attack, he just kept on coming. Sooner or later he would win, Rock knew, but he had to make him spend as much energy as possible in doing it.

"Kyo's very close to winning I think," the first commentator said, back up in the skybox, commenting as Rock launched a small counterattack with a punch, kick and Renpuu Ken combination, only to have Kyo re double his attack with 115 Shiki: Dokugami, 401 Shiki: Tsumi Yomi, 402 Shiki: Batsu Yomi, finishing with 100 Shiki: Oniyaki, the flaming spinning uppercut sending Rock into the air. Kyo finished with Ura 108 Shiki: Orochi Nagi, hitting Rock out of the air, sending him towards Kai and Billy at their end of the arena.

"Rock Howard is knocked out. Victory in Round 2 to Kyo Kusanagi," the referee announced, as Billy and Kai helped Rock back up.

"Good job, Rock, nice victory in the first round. Too bad about the second, but we are still looking good," Billy said, as Rock sat down and the medical team came to check his condition.

"Looks like it's my turn now," Kai said, as he stepped into the arena.

Back up into the commentary box, the commentator's said, "well it looks like the HMK team are going with Kai, this is going to be exciting I think."

"You're right," the second commentator replied, "Goro-san, your thoughts."

"Kyo has to be very careful, fighting Rock used a fair amount of his strength, and without full knowledge of how Kai fights, it will be hard for Kyo to strategise," Goro replied.

* * *

Author's Notes 

1. Thanks a lot to everyone who reviews. Everyone who reads but does not review, reviews are very helpful for me.

2. Second part of this chapter will come up soon (it is already written). However, due to time constraints I will only write HMK Team fights for the rest of the round robin stage. (so there are 2 chapters in the round robin stage - the second part of this fight and the HMK Team's third fight). Quarter-final stage onwards will be fully written though.

3. Currently, I have Geese's death slated in at about late 2003-2004. If anyone could tell me when FF3 was supposed to happen, that would be much appreciated

* * *

Lilly's Corner 

Extracts from Lilly's Diary: Date 19/8/2005

Dear Diary,

Another date ruined! That's it! Operation Get Big Brother a Girl has to be put into action now. Unfortunately, all my firends are too young, and the teachers at school are all married, or aren't his type. And asking the customers is such a wrong thing to do. Darn! If only he was asuperstar or something like that, then he'd get a girl easy (or he'd be too busy avoiding rabid fangirls)and get out of my life...

But since he isn't one, I'm going to have to resort to other measures. The personals sectionof the newspaper maybe, or a magazine. Blind date? Too bad none of my classmates have available older sisters or young aunts, not even the ones that I don't really like. Hmmm...come on, Lilly think quick! Maybe Joe knows someone...wait, if big brother ever found out that his girlfriend was Joe's friend...well let's just not explore that possibility (because it would likely end up with me being widowed before I have a chance to get married). Ummm...what to do, if only thegirl/lady out there somewhere that I need would pop up right in front of my eyes, then this would be easy.

Think Lilly, who does big brother need?

1. Someone who does not mind his past indiscretions...that's pretty much the top of the list. Being an ex-suspected crime boss is not good

2. Someone who would keep him busy and keep him and herself out of my life...that's the whole point of Operation Get Big Brother a Girl isn't it?

Actually, there really is a lot else, but really as long as she fulfills goals 1 and 2, anyone is okay with me. (as long as they aren't a psycho axe murderer or something like that)

Lots of Hugs and Kisses

Lilly Kane


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: This in no way derogates from SNK's legal rights or obligations.

Chapter 6 – Grudge Match

Round 3: Kai Mellion vs Kyo Kusanagi

Back down at the arena, the referee was just about ready to start round 3. Kyo called the Kusanagi flames to his hands. Kai responded, by holding his left hand out, palm up as chaosfire enveloped his hands, the green liquid-like substance dripping.

"Round 3, ready, go," the referee said, as he withdrew to the side of the arena, from which he would officiate. Kai launched a quick Chaos Shot with his left, sending a glob of chaosfire, at Kyo who replied with his own fireball, orangey red striking acid green, what he didn't know was that Kai followed up with a right handed shot which shot through, forcing Kyo to block quickly, and then he fell onto his butt, as he saw that Kai had dashed forward behind the Chaos Shot and neatly tripped him with a low kicking attack, clattering his ankles together.

Kai smiled, his eyes glinting, as Kyo recovered, throwing a crouching blow of his own, blocked, and then Kai went for an overhead attack, forcing Kyo to rise and block, but he didn't expect Kai to cancel the second hit of the overhead kick into a Chaos Flurry, he was having a really hard time reading which type of blow would come next.

"Looks like Kai is on the attack, and troubling Kyo," the first commentator commented, as Kai launched a palm, strike, fist, fist, fist, palm, strike combination forcing Kyo to block at the last millisecond in most cases, as some of the blows got through.

Kyo thought, "I'm having a really hard time picking what type of blow will come next, there's no discernable pattern.", as Kai continued the relentless attack, "I have to go on the attack myself." Kyo let Kai hit some blows, as he counterattacked with his 100 Shiki: Oniyaki, forcing Kai to block, pushing him a distance away. But Kai re-closed the distance quickly, again going on the attack as Kyo landed.

"He's looking very relentless today," the second commentator said, commenting about Kai's strategy. "He's just directing what Kyo is doing, forcing Kyo to respond to his moves." Kyo responded with a R.E.D kick, missing but buying some distance, enough for him to land on the other side of Kai and follow up with 114 Shiki: Aragami which was blocked quickly, but Kyo pressed on with another, trying to direct the fight himself, as he fought back with a 115 Shiki: Dokugami, blocked again by Kai, who countered with a Chaos Uppercut into a Chaos Scythe sending Kyo into the ground. Kai landed and drove the attack on, with another Chaos Flurry, the more blows he landed, even though weakish, would add up, and then he could finish the match with a strong attack.

As he saw Kyo tiring, he knew that it was time to finish the job, calling chaosfire to both his arms, he began to press into a Chaos Flurry, but suddenly changed into a stunning palm and then into the Chaos Charge, pumping Chaos Shots like a machine gun into Kyo's body, and then finishing with a double handed blast.

"KO. Kyo Kusanagi is unable to fight," the referee said, as Kyo's body hit the ground, his vest having chunks eaten away by the acid. Kyo sat up, dazed, as the medical team came in and helped him away, as Kai returned to his side of the arena. "Good match," he shouted accross the arena.

Round 4: Kai Mellion vs Iori Yagami

"Looks like its now Kai versus Iori," the first commentator said, "if the death list rumour is correct, then we are in for one hell of a fight."

"Yes, we are," Goro replied.

Down in the arena the referee once again took his position, separating the two fighters.

"You're dead," Iori said, from one side of the referee.

"You said that last time, and I beat you too," Kai responded.

"Tch. You had help last time from him," Iori said, as he pointed at Billy, "this time you are by yourself."

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Yagami," Kai replied, "and you are fresher, maybe when we actually fight outside of the tournament you'll see my true power."

Iori snorted, "Your true power? It's still nothing compared to mine."

"Whatever," Kai replied, "Now let's go."

"Round 4, ready go," the referee announced and then retreated to his usual position. Kai immediately launched himself into the fray, pushing with a rapid assortment of punches, palm blows and strikes, whilst also using short kicks to push Iori backwards, who was relying on his instinct to keep up. Iori pushed back with his own combination of slashes and strikes, pushing Kai backwards. Back and forth they went, sometimes scoring minor blows, but they kept on back and forth, back and forth.

"They are getting really hard to follow with the naked eye," the first commentator said, as Kai slid his right hand up Iori's left arm only to have Iori return the favour, by twisting his arm, forcing Kai's downwards and then snaking a quick strike at Kai's shoulder. He neatly avoided that blow by pushing up with his right hand, making the blow miss high. And so it continued, the close combat, back and forth. Kai knew he would have to strike a decisive blow, he hadn't enough stamina to last both Kyo and Iori, in fact no fighter had enough energy to last that long against both of them, one after the other.

He had to pull something special out. Sooner or later, Iori was going to win because he was the fresher fighter. But the openings did not appear, in desperation he tried a Chaos Uppercut, hoping to catch Iori by surprise but to no avail, Iori blocked, and countered with another blow, followed by a kick, sending Kai reeling backwards, clutching at the side where he had been hit. Stumbling backwards, he knew that he was going to lose sooner rather than later. He only hoped that he could force Iori to use as much energy as possible in fighting him, and then Billy could finish him off. Iori pressed the attack by rushing, forcing Kai to block, low, then high and then low again, as Iori's hands began to move faster and faster, matched by Kai's blocking, most of the time.

Suddenly, Iori scored a decisive hit, and then began a long combination attack, slashing at Kai, hitting him continually, until he finished it off with a headbutt. Kai dropped to the ground.

"KO," the referee said from his area, as the medical team began to make its way down as well. But Iori was not finished. He kicked the now prone Kai, and then brought his hands down in a clawing motion ready to continue his assault on the Kai. His right arm descended ready for the last blow, he felt it hit something, not flesh, he saw that a red staff was blocking his hands. He looked up, and saw Billy standing there.

Up in the announcer's box, the second announcer was in a rage, "My god! He's already won and still would not finish, until Billy came in for the save. Must really be on that death list, then."

Round 5: Billy Kane vs Iori Yagami

Back down at the arena, "It's just you and me now, scum," Billy said, as Kai rolled out of the way and sat up, panting, tired, as the referee escorted him to the side of the arena, where he sat down.

"Hmph, you aren't even worth my time," Iori replied. The referee came back and said, "Round 5, ready, go." The last round began.

Billy started off with a quick jab of his staff, since Iori had lost his Yagami flames, he had lost the range attacks that his old fighting style used to have, which would work to Billy's advantage. Again they began by circling, waiting for the right moment to strike. Billy attacked with a quick staff attack followed by a one-two combination a boot to the face, and another staff hit. Iori countered, slashing down, then a strike to the chest, pushing Billy back. Iori continued, pressing forwards with a vicious combination of strikes, clawing away at Billy who blocked with his staff, twirling it around, moving it as if it was an extension of his body.

The fighting continued back and forth, back and forth, claws raking, staff impacting, even some taunts were being thrown in the lulls between the furious assaults. Sooner or later one of them would have to give way, as both fighters began to tire. Billy leapt forward, only to miss and be counter attacked by another series of slash and claw combinations, blocked and riposted with a vicious staff combination.

"Looks like both the fighters are giving it their all," the first commentator said.

"But you can see that they are both tiring, soon someone will score a decisive blow. But the question is who?" Goro answered.

Billy was tired, and running out of breath, knowing that he hadn't much left in the tank, he looked accross and saw that Iori was breathing deeply, tired as well. It would all come down to one last attack. If only he knew what attack to pick to win. There were choices, but a lot of them would leave him open if he picked wrong, and then they would lose. "No I won't lose to this scum," Billy thought, as his mind cycled through a list of possible attacks in his mind. The two tired fighters continued circling each other. Time seemed to slow, as Billy ran over the last few possibilities, there was the new attack sequence that he had been working on, one that hadn't been seen before, perhaps that would give him the edge, the surprise that he needed to finish this match off.

He waited, for the right moment to use it, three, two, one, he mentally counted down, now, he moved, forward, jabbing out with his stick, catching Iori unawares, as the jab folded Iori backwards, sliding his hands down the staff, he followed up with a half crouching jab with other end of staff as his right foot came forward, completing the turn by stepping forward with his left, as he rotated the staff igniting it in flames and bringing it in an uppercut motion, striking Iori and setting him alight. He followed up with a turning explosive, overhead strike with his staff, then separated his staff into 3, half turning again, striking with the end and then inverting it by turning around into a downwards strike which stunned, into a flaming uppercut with his staff, as he launched himself into the air somersaulting seven times each time hitting Iori with a flaming dai senpuu, giving the last blast extra firepower by slamming Iori into ground, causing his body to bounce of the arena floor as Billy landed and slid his hands down to the end of the staff as it ignited all the way along, then waited as Iori's body came into range and swung the staff like a bat, sending Iori hurtling across the arena into the wall, as it cracked under the power of the blow and then Iori's prone body dropped onto the floor, creating a small billow of dust as it landed. Billy breathed very heavily, leaning on his staff for support, as the referee came down and announced, "Iori Yagami is unable to fight, victory in Round 5 goes to Billy Kane and the match goes to the HMK team." The paramedics came to take the tired fighters to hospital for observation.

Up in the announcer's box, Goro and the other announcers were shocked. "Oh my God, did you just see that?" the first announcer said, "Billy Kane, with a new super desperation move, has just handed the HMK team the victory."

"Yes, and I bet he enjoyed every second of it, there's a lot of bad blood between him and Yagami," the second announcer replied, "and especially with the controversy of Round 4 as well. Plus we may even have a possible rematch in the elimination stage. Goro-san?"

Goro thought for a moment, "Yes, that was a spectacular attack combination by Billy, one may be tempted to think that Billy's hate for Iori may be over, now that he's gotten his revenge, but then again, with today's controversy, I say it's far from being over. If these two teams fight again, the match will be even more intense. Disappointing for the Kusanagi/Yagami team though to come close and lose."

The crowd were cheering loudly, as the fighters exited the arena, all of them on the way to the hospital, to recuperate for their team's next match.

Day 16: Ikari Warriors vs Korea Team

Result: Victory for the Korea Team in a striker type match

Day 17: MOTW vs AlbaMeira team

Result: Victory for the Alba Meira Team in a double style match

Day 18: Kyokugenryu Team vs Anti-Kyokugenryu team

Result: Victory to the Kyokugenryu team in a classic style match

* * *

Author's Notes:

1. Review please! Updates will be less frequent now, since I've cleared the backlog of chapters I had written in the holidays.

* * *

Lilly's Diary: Extract 3 - 25/12/2005

Dear Diary,

Today was big brother's birthday! And Christmas!And my birthday present was the conclusion to the Operation GBBAG. (see previous entry). Unfortunately, big brother didn't like her at all. (Drat!).I must have picked the wrong woman. Back to the drawing board. (I really should have gone with new strings for his guitar)

There was a letter a week ago, about this second Maximum Impact tournament thingy. Ihaven't shown him the letter yet, but right now I'm so desperate to get some me and Joe time, I'm willing to actually give him the letter and send him back to Southtown (that would be a bad thing to do!). Maybe I will be forced to use it.

And big brother got me a very nice Christmas present...(it was a new dress...for my formal party at school this coming year). It's really, really expensive, though. I'm going to take the best care of it. (and I know how to take care of clothes) :P

Lots of Hugs and Kisses

Lilly Kane


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: This in no way derogates from SNK's legal rights or obligations.

Round 3 Matches -

Day 21: Ash Team vs Benimaru Team

Result: Victory for Ash Team in 3 1v1 style match

Day 22: FF vs Women's,

Result: Victory for the Women's Team in a double style match (with Terry and Andy against Mary and Mai)

Day 23: Kyo/Iori Team vs Korea Team

Result: Victory for Kyo/Iori Team in a striker type match

Day 24: Neo Psycho Soldiers Team vs AlbaMeira Team

Result: Victory for the Neo Psycho Soldiers Team in a new style match

Day 25: Chapter 6 - HMK vs Ikari Warriors (a simultaneous 2v2)

Day 25, the third match of the round robin stage. The HMK team was already through to the next stage, but they would not be taking this one lightly. The Ikari Warriors were a highly skilled team, and different to the other two teams that they had faced before.

The commentators took their seats, and with them today was guest commentator Adelheid Bernstein. The two commentators welcomed Adel to the commentating booth.

"Today's match type will be a double match," the referee announced, down at the arena level, "Teams have two minutes to decide on their two fighters."

Back up in the commentator booth, the first commentator asked, "Mr Bernstein, who will win today? Now that we know that type of match."

"Well, both teams are good from what I've seen of them, and this is a new type of match specifically designed for this year's tournament. The Ikari Warriors team have been together a lot longer, so in the absence of any other factors, I think they'll win due to their superior experience," Adel replied.

Down at the arena, the match began, it was to be Rock and Kai against Ralf and Clark.

Being the first double match that the HMK team had fought, they were a bit unsure of tactics but knowing that both Ralf and Clark liked to use close range attacks, a keep-away game seemed natural. Firing Chaosfire Shots and Renpukkens at their opponents, Rock and Kai tried to time their attacks so that just in case, one of them miscued their timing, the other could cover with a second shot, but it didn't really work, as Clark and Ralf closed the gap, and began to implement their strength into the fight, making it a close ranged fight.

Now the complexion of the fight had changed, as Clark and Ralf kept up the pressure, by moving in close, bringing their grappling skills into play. Kai launched a Chaosfire Shot, following with the Double Shot, launched at Clark, who blocked. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ralf back towards him, so he threw a quick backhand punch, hitting, hoping that Rock could take advantage of the temporary distraction, that his attack would have. However, during the gap, Clark had closed the distance, and now grabbed Kai, and threw him, away, accross the arena. Meanwhile, Rock had taken advantage of the opening, and hit Ralf hard, but now it was almost a 2 on 1, as Kai had to close the distance, Rock settled back into a more defensive posture, as both Ralf and Clark focused on him. Billy intervened with a charging stick attack, but Leona countered with her own charging attack, cancelling the effect, btu taht gave Kai enough time to close the gap, mostly, before Ralf hit Rock with a punch combination, only to be hit in the back by Kai's Chaos Uppercut. Clark then coutnered that, grabbing Kai, only to be assaulted with a Hard Edge by Rock, breaking the hold. Kai backhanded again, spinning around, and then launched into a Chaos Flurry at the uncoming Ralf, who blocked.

Kai and Rock took ready positions again as Ralf and Clark recovered. Kai sweated, wiping his brow. This was a hard match, against two grapplers, who rushed in, cramping them for time and strategy, which was really required for a simultaneous match that they were in right now.

The fight continued, the two strategies clashing with each other, the HMK team's keepaway game against the close game of the Ikari Warriors. The combination attacks pulled off by Ralf and Clark were devastating when they hit, though that wasn't often, each attack took a lot out of Rock and Kai.

Kai fired another Chaosfire Shot, the shot impacting on Ralf's chest, followed by a second shot. Clark had attacked Rock with a throw, dropping him to the ground. Kai then attacked with another Chaosfire shot, this time aimed at clark which hit, but then Ralf punched him in the back, only to be attacked by Billy, who was then countered by Leona, who was pushed away by Rock with a Hard Edge.

Again the two teams of fighters circled, waiting for the right time to strike.

Kai fired another Chaosfire shot, and Rock followed with a double Renpuu Ken, striking the opposing fighters, stunning them temporarily. The follow up attack, a Hard Edge sent Ralf flying accross the arena, just as Kai's Chaos Scythe sent Clark into the ground.

Leona intervened as Kai and Rock double teamed Clark as Ralf charged back in, only to be stopped by Billy, who lashed out with his staff, tripping Ralf. The Ikari warriors recovered, as everyone began to tire from the long fight. Suddenly, the Ikari warriors launched an attack, catching Kai by surprise both teamed up on him. Billy tried to help out but was blocked by Leona, Rock took Ralf in the back and threw him away but Clark grabbed Kai as he blocked Leona's attack. He was thrown after a Rolling Cradle hold.

As Kai recovered, he saw that Clark was coming at him again, and that Ralf was going for Rock with a charging move, which connected, hitting him. Kai flipped up, tired and was too slow and had lost too much energy to block the next throw attempt.

Ralf and Clark both grabbed their respective opponents' and readied for a grappling combination attack, both Rock and Kai were thrown up into the air, and then caught and then thrown at each other.

There was a sickening impact, as Kai and Rock careened into each other, and they fell both knocked out, the dust settling around them.

"Double KO," the referee said, "the winner is the Ikari Warriors,"

Billy ran into the arena, followed quickly by the medical team, as they went to check on all the fighters for injuries.

"Look like the new kids had lost," Adel said, "pity, they were going pretty well too."

"But they still got through to the next round, looking at the previous results," the second commentator replied, smirking at his colleague.

"See you all again tomorrow," the first commentator said, "And thank you Mr Bernstein for your wonderful commentary."

Day 26: K' vs Anti-Kyokugenryu

Result: K' Team victory in a classic style match

Southtown Hospital: Recovery Area

Billy, Kai and Rock were recovering in the hospital from the loss on the previous day.

They had reviewed the video of their first loss, and were working on some better tactics, for the next double fight if they were to have one in the future. They planned a mini-celebration for making it through to the next round, a special achievement, given that neither Rock nor Kai had a lot of experience in KOF tournaments, for later, once they were cleared by the doctors to go.

Who their next opponents would be next round they did not know yet, but the teams that had made it through so far had been very good. Certainly, they were one of the teams with little experience and would probably be coming up against a much more experienced team.

Looking at the teams that had made it through from the other groups, the fighters from those groups were formidable, including the team headed by Ash, the **ugly** French guy who was champion of the last KOF. There was also the Neo Psycho Soldiers, and the _ADDES_ team, the team that represented the biggest crime wave in Southtown, bigger than the Howard Connection in its prime. And in that team was Duke, the man who had kidnapped Lilly Kane, an old enemy, now sure to have a personal grudge. He seemed to have bulked up as well, since Billy last kicked his ass at Wembley and no doubt he would be looking for revenge. Then there was every chance that they would have a rematch with Kyo and Iori's team, they would be smarting from the loss that Billy, Rock and Kai had inflicted on them. Or there was the other new team, headed by Alba Meira, another big shot in Southtown. The city was beginning to be infested with running feuds between different crime bosses, and Billy sort of missed it, when all crime was run by the Howard Connection, things were a lot simpler, there were good guys and there were bad guys.

Kaia was still spying on ADDES and sending the information to Kai and to Interpol. He looked through the latest report, naming a person called Jivatma and another plan to resurrect Orochi. The report had come through a dead drop, just to make sure that ADDES didn't get onto them. But then again, these demon worshippers were always over confident in their own plans. One of the things that made humans win all the time, was their flexibility to change, their ability to deal with chaos. Then there was that French guy, Ash Crimson, who wanted to have the power of the three sacred treasures, to obtain the power of God. There was also Ron Long, involved with NESTS before and now striking out on his own, after the Dragon Spirit Powers. But most of all, they were here to win the tournament.

Day 27: Outlaw Team vs MOTW Team

Result: Draw - a double KO in the third round of a 3 1v1 style match, having split the first two rounds

Day 28: ADDES vs Kyokugenryu

Result: Victory for ADDES team in a new style match

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter. It was really hard writing this chapter. A simultaneous fight is hard to write, without losing focus and having it devolve into 2 1v1's. Next chapter will be better as we are headed into the Quarter Finals. Things are still quiet on the Orochi front so far, but more will happen. I promise.

Read and Review Please.

Double extract from the Diary

* * *

Extract From Lilly's Diary

Lilly's Diary 4: 31/5/2006

Dear Diary

That tournament happened, but big brother (bother) dragged me along with him back to America, just to keep me away from Joe. That scumbag! Ruining my life!! I have got to get him a girlfriend of his own. But he keeps scaring them off, (I know he uses his past to scare all the ones he doesn't like away)...and those that he likes, they go away when they find out about his past. Darn.

The laundry business is going well, but I don't really want to bug one of the customer's to go out with my brother. Neither do I want to ask one of my friend's older sister's (which there aren't many anyway). Hopefully soon.

I found this really strange business card on the floor today. I haven't asked nii-chan about it yet (A/N: Haha Lilly is multilingual), but it was really weird because it was a business card from MusicCo, a record company. I'll have to find out what it is.

Lots of hugs and kisses

Lilly

* * *

Lilly's Diary 5 - 24/6/06

Dear Diary,

Remember how last time, I was talking about that weird business card. Well, I asked nii-sama about it, and he said, "yeah, I'm working there now, I'll be spending less time at the laundromat." Working at the music company? What's he doing? Naturally, I asked but he wouldn't tell. So I rang the phone number on the card.

This guy answered on the other end, or well, actually his secretary did and then I got put through to Kai. (that's his name). So I said, "Hi, I'm Lilly Kane, I'm Billy's sister." And naturally he replied, "Billy's sister, tell him he's late for rehearsal..." I dropped the phone in shock. When I picked it up again, "Hello, are you still there," came through the phone. "Yes, sorry about that, Mr Mellion, apparently big brother has been hiding something from me." A laugh came through the phone. "What exactly does he do here?" I asked over the phone. "Well, I can't really tell you that, you should ask him." But I already asked him, I said, and he didn't tell me anything. Another laugh, "oh look, wait, he's just come in. Billy, it's your sister on the phone."

Suffice to say that he was very angry with me when he came home. I could tell that he didn't like me knowing for some reason. Sigh, what can I say, big brother's especially one's like mine are just complicated beings.

Lots of Hugs and Kisses

Lilly Kane


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 7 – New and Old: Three Fights

A/N: I don't own KOF. This in no way derogates any legal rights that the owners of KOF have over their materials. All OCs belong to me however.

Quarter Finals: Day 31

The first quarter final was being drawn, the names of the four teams that had topped the round robin stage were put into the randomiser and then assigned a number, the four teams that had come second were assigned opponents. The commentating team looked at the board and said as the results came up on the screen, "The quarter-finals of this tournament will see the newcomers the HMK team against the Fatal Fury team, today."

"Then tomorrow we'll have the Kyo/Iori team against the Neo Psycho Soldiers, followed by the Ash team against the K' team," the second commentator continued.

"And well round out with the ADDES team against the Alba team," the first commentator finished the line-up.

Down at the arena level, the referee and the two teams were getting ready for the match was going to start in one hour.

"So our teams are going against each other," Terry said to Rock, "I would say good luck but..."

"Yeah, I know," Rock interrupted, "see you soon, and may the best team win."

Half an hour later, the two teams came out, ready for the big match. The random draw began, the highlight on the arena screen scrolling through the options. It slowed down and landed on the 3 1v1 matches type.

Now the three names of both teams were being randomised to choose the matches. The matches came up, Rock Howard versus Terry Bogard, Billy Kane versus Joe Higashi and Kai Mellion versus Andy Bogard. The order was the next thing to be decided. The first match would be Kai Mellion versus Andy Bogard, second match Billy Kane versus Joe Higashi, third Rock Howard versus Terry Bogard.

The referee came out to the arena, as Kai and Andy faced one another, "Match 1, fight," he said, as he retreated up the side of the arena, to the referee's box. Kai called chaosfire to his hands, as he and Andy circled around an invisible spot, waiting for the other to strike, from where one could hopefully launch a counterattack.

Kai attacked with a quick Chaos shot, splashing the liquid fire over the ground. Andy dodged, and countered with a quick punch blocked by Kai with his other hand. Andy's foot shot out, tripping Kai. THe dust flew up, as Kai hit the ground, but he avoided the stomp coming by rolling sideways and then flipping upwards and striking out with a kick, but Andy twisted left, Kai's leg passing just over the top of his head. Kai pressed the attack, going for a quick stomp aimed at Andy's side.

Andy rolled away again, recovering quickly, he attacked again with another quick flurry of blows, blocked and returned. The speed of the Shuranui ninja style was a pretty even match to Kai's Chaos style. On the sidelines, the crowd at the stadium was cheering loudly, as the fight intensified. Billy and Rock were on one side watching grimly, as were Terry and Joe on the other, knowing that their fights would just be as intense as the current one.

"Try reading this attack," Kai thought, as he launched another Chaos Flurry driving Andy backwards, the blows coming randomly, without any pattern.

"He's hard to read," Andy thought, "Master Hanzo said that fighters would usually settle into a pattern, but this guy, has no pattern to his attack, or it is some incredibly long one." Blocking an open palm strike, he skipped backwards quicker, putting some distance between him and Kai.

Kai pressed onwards, launching a quick kick, punch combination followed by another, forcing Andy backwards. He counterattacked, forcing Kai back as he advanced. Kai backstepped and threw a quick Chaosfire Shot, striking Andy in the chest, knocking him backwards momentarily, and Kai followed with another attack, a Chaos Uppercut knocking Andy into the air. He followed this with another mid-air Chaos Scythe, effectively ending the match.

KO. The words showed up on the stadium screen as the referee signalled a knock-out. It was a win. They were one up.

The referee signalled for the next match. Up in the commentary box the announcers were analysing the previous match and its ramifications.

"Well, this new team has definitely surprised me with their strength," the first commentator said, in a candid tone, into his microphone. "They've taken out a lot more experienced teams. And it looks like they are well on their way to victory in this match."

"Even so, this was a match that they probably had to win, given that the next match is between Rock Howard and Terry Bogard, I think Terry's got too much experience in KOF tournaments," the second commentator replied.

"But this is Kai's first ever KOF tournament, he's never been here before, and he won," the first commentator argued, filling in the time between rounds.

"However, you can see that Kai's been fighting a lot longer than Rock, maybe he's light on KOF experience but I can tell that he's trained since very early in his life, and is quite experienced in sparring," the second commentator responded.

"Still there is nothing that compares to real experience in KOF style tournament," the first commentator replied, "though I do see that this type of match doesn't have as much differing strategy to normal one on one sparring." The second fight was ready to begin so the commentators switched their attention to the arena.

The crowd outside cheered as Rock and Terry came into the stadium. The referee announced, "this is the second round, Rock Howard of the HMK team against Terry Bogard of the Fatal Fury Team. Three Two One. Fight!"

The second match began in earnest, Terry's Ground Wave against Rock's Reppu Ken, red on blue as as powers clashed. Then it was Rising Tackles clashing against each other, as Rock and Terry busted out the moves which they both knew.

"Wow, look at them go, it looks like he's fighting a clone," the first commentator said. The match continued energy discharging, flashes of blue and red.

"Raging Storm," Rock shouted as he bent over and the flames of energy engulfing him as he charged up the attack.

"Buster Wolf," Terry countered, his own Desperation move countering Rock's. The miasma of blue on red exploding creating a spectacular discharge of energy which caused the crowd to avert their eyes.

The discharge faded, and the two fighters stood, clearly tired, Rock clutching his left arm, Terry's chest heaved heavily, as they both struggled to regain their energy.

"did you see that?" the second commentator said. "Brilliant, wasn't it."

"Yes, it was," the first commentator replied, "both fighters giving it their all."

The onslaught continued, as they traded blows, back and forth, back and forth, Terry began to press, the advantage given to him by his experience. Rock began to tire, he had expended too much energy and began to feel the weight of Terry's blows more. He had to gamble on one attack.

"Neo Raging Storm," Rock put the last of his strength into this one attack.

"Hyper Ground Wave," Terry countered, a shimmering explosion of blue on red blinded everyone in the stadium temporarily and undoubtedly caused a lot of the TV audience to turn away, even those watching on computers and LCDs. The dust cleared and both fighters were definitely breathing heavily, tired. Rock felt the last of his energy go, as the world turned black.

"KO, winner is the Fatal Fury team," the referee intoned. Billy and Kai come out to help Rock, who was obviously exhausted from the battle. On the other side, Terry struggled to walk, helped by Andy who was favouring one leg from the fight before, and Joe, "the kid's really good, he almost had me beaten, I could probably have only lasted one more attack. That year in England has done wonders for him."

Back on the HMK side of the arena Billy and Rock sat down as Kai paced deep in thought, "Bad luck, Rock," Billy said, "I know how much you wanted to win against Terry." There was a break between each fight, and this was the time when the teams had to strategise or if the fighters were hurt their teammates could see them off.

"Looks like it is one-all now," the first commentator said, "so it comes down to the last match, Billy Kane against Joe Higashi."

"If there's one person that Billy dislikes as much as Iori, it's his sister's boyfriend," the second commentator replied, laughing.

"Yes, though it's probably just dislike, rather than profound hate," the other replied.

"Haha," the second commentator replied. "Anyway, looks like they are ready down there."

Back in the stadium, Billy and Joe took their respective positions. "Ready, 3,2,1, Fight," the referee said, as the match began.

The fight began, the two fighters circling each other warily, since they knew each other's fighting style so well. Billy jabbed out with his staff, forcing Joe to block. He followed with another quick jab, and another jab with the staff, forcing another quick block.

Joe decided he had to get closer, so that he could bring his speed into the match. He ducked a swing from the staff and got closer, countering with a rising knee, clicking Billy's jaw, sending him flying backwards. Billy flipped mid-air and planted his staff in the ground, coming around in a languid flip. He rubbed his jaw, "you don't hit as hard as my sister."

Joe continued with a Hurricane Upper attack, throwing two mini-hurricanes at Billy, who blocked them, and the follow up attack as well. Billy countered, extending his staff into three sections, catching Joe neatly on the knee, before retracting. He pushed forward only to eat a Slash Kick to his chest, sending him backwards.

Billy picked himself up off the ground, waiting for the next attack, which promptly followed, another Slash Kick, blocked and countered, Billy wielding his staff like it was a mere extension of his body. Wham, he scored a hit with the end of his staff, pushing Joe backwards, he then followed up with his Tri-Section Cane attack, following it with an explosive ending.

Joe dusted himself off, as he rubbed his chest, where Billy's staff hit him. "My girlfriend slaps harder," Joe taunted in reply. Joe prepared himself again, for Billy's next attack. Billy obliged by shooting his staff forward rapidly, forcing Joe to go backwards. He countered with a Hurricane Upper, this time only a weaker single attack, rather than the slower double attack.

He knew he had to be faster to win this match, it was speed that was his advantage. He was rewarded as Billy was hit with the attack, stumbling back one step and that was when Joe followed with a slash kick, shooting forward quickly, but he was blocked by Billy's staff.

Joe pressed on unleashing his super Hurricane Upper, a massive tornado spiralling through the air, towards Billy who had no choice but to block the attack as best as he could. The attack sapped some of his energy, and left him open for the quick slide attack that Joe threw, tripping him, as he legs tangled with Joe's. Joe pressed the attack with an overhead kick arcing down ready to knock Billy out. Billy just managed to get his staff up in time to block and pushed upwards, then rolled and got up, to block Joe's next attack, a rapid flurry of punches, ended with a low kick, which Billy just intercepted with the end of his staff.

The match wore on, as each man tested the other. Meanwhile the commentators were furiously debating up in the skybox, about who would take the honours. Disagreeing with each other vehemently, each commentator stuck to his view. One had the HMK team winning, the other argued against it. On TV in London, Lilly watched while she supervised the shop that she owned and operated, albeit with her brother's help.

Her loyalties were torn between her man and her brother. She just hoped whoever won this would win the tournament. She had been impressed with how the tournament had gone so far, enough of the old guard but enough of the new teams as well to make it interesting.

As she served another customer, Billy managed to score a decisive hit. Pressing his advantage he launched furiously into a new attack sequence (A/N: Credits for this attack sequence to fellow writer LegendarySuperNamek for this idea) running in close and striking Joe one, two, three times in the chest, then closing the distance and continuing the assault with a staff spin, then tilting the end of that sequence launching Joe into the air.

He then followed up with an Upper Cane Smasher aimed slightly too high, sailing over Joe's head by centimetres. Immediately the commentator supporting the Fatal Fury team made a comment about a sloppy attack only to be silenced when Billy brought his staff downwards towards the ground in an overhead blow, knocking Joe to the ground, and then pushing him further with another Tri-Cane Smash.

Billy jumped into the air coming down onto Joe, who was prone on the ground, Billy's staff split in its three sections, landing, pinning Joe across the neck. Billy jumped away, staffless, and shouted out "I'm gonna bounce you so bad!" as his staff caught on fire and followed with an explosive attack on Joe, then flying back into Billy's hands. He caught the staff easily and did a victory pose as the referee declared that Joe was knocked out.

"Victory to Billy Kane," the referee said, as on the screen it showed the results of the three fights.

"The winner of this quarter-final is the HMK team," the referee announced, to the cheers of the crowd, both for the winners and the losers. Billy walked over to Joe and proffered his hand to lift him up, "not bad, though my sister would last longer than you did," Billy joked.

Joe took the proffered hand and the teams shook hands. Grudging congratulations were passed around.

"You guys had better not stuff up next round," Terry said, as the teams left through the fighters exit.

"We won't, no way, not now we've gotten this far," Rock promised, "If anyone beats us, they'll have to be just plain better."

That night, the Billy, Rock and Kai nursed their injuries from the previous day; this had definitely been the most intense day of fighting. At the hotel, they decided to order room service, as the corporations bankrolling this were paying, quite handsomely as well. Enjoying their dinner, they were interrupted by a knock on the door, as Mary and Terry visited, obviously for some family time with Rock, before his next fight. The others all obliged, and Rock left with Mary and Terry for a family dinner.

That left Billy and Kai, and they started to do music-related things, of all the things to do during a tournmanet in which they were still in with a chance to win. After all they all deserved the night off. Billy sat penning a new song, something different, a ballad style song, as different from the heavy metal that he played. Kai offered advice where it was needed, which was not often. One verse had been drafted before it was time to turn in.

Later that night, Kai's PDA beeped, a message from his sister. Morphing into one of the hotel staff, he exited his room and walked out into the corridor and took the staff elevator downstairs. He pretended to clock off, and walked out in the street, morphing again into a random person, so that he couldn't be followed.

When he reached the designated destination he saw his sister, in the darkness of a park, walking away as he sat down on the bench and felt for the dead drop that she had placed there. He tied his shoelaces and then made to go off again. Once back in his hotel room, he went into the bathroom, the only place where video surveillance cameras weren't allowed. He opened the dead drop envelope and saw the information inside, memorized it, and then consumed it in green chaosfire.

In the file were more detailed reports of a possible plot by a mysterious Orochi character. Reputedly, he had had dealings in the past with some of the fighters here, including Kyo Kusunagi.

He was also mentioned in the file about Ash Crimson, and the group that he used to work for. Supposedly he was a rogue agent of a group preventing Orochi from coming. What intrigued him was what Ash had reputedly stolen from the Kagura family, their treasure the Sacred Mirror. That was an affront to his Master who had granted that gift to that family. Furthermore he read unsubstantiated reports that he had also stolen the Yagami sacred treasure, which irked him, but that gift had become tainted and he shared Billy's dislike of the current Yagami scion. He knew that if Ash succeded in getting the Kusunagi Sacred Treasure it would mean big trouble for everyone for the power of three of them together was as powerful as God.

ADDES Headquarters

Shion, Mukai and Botan were joined by Jivatma in the ADDES headquarters. Things were going well for them, the energy gathered in that last match was a lot, and it would be soon that Lord Orochi could rise and come into this world, not in a pitiful human form, but in his fully fledged demon form. They cackled with glee as the energy storage spiked and awaited for the next fight to garner them more energy.

* * *

Authors Notes 

1. That's the end of this chapter. Sorry for the long wait, but I have been concetrating on other projects like the Bleach RPG I was playing and my Star Wars fic.

2. Secondly I've been thinking about my next KOF fic after this one (seeing as this only has about 4 or 5 chapters to go). Anyway here's my proposed idea please comment either here, or if you want start a forum thread:

I'm going to turn KOF and Southtown into a soap drama.

Here's my cast so far:  
Jeff Bogard - Head of Southtown PD, a widower of 45 years old  
Tung Fu Rue - District Attorney Southtown, closest friend of Jeff being about 55  
Geese Howard - Head of Howard Connection (a big company with some dodgy links) - half brother of Jeff, a widower about 40 years old  
Billy Kane - Geese's right hand man, orphaned at 10 with his baby sister or so he thinks (being around 25)  
Dr Takuma Sakazaki - Head of Southtown General, the hospital (being 55 as well)  
Dr Ryo - son of Takuma - doctor at Southtown hospital (being 30)  
Yuri - daughter of Takuma - doctor/med student at Southtown hospital (being in her young 20's)  
King - the owner of the local bar/pub - the Rose  
Robert - Owns the local swanky restuarant  
Mary Ryan - A trainee cop  
Hon Fu - Mary's partner, a more experienced cop  
Kim Kaphwan, Jhun Hoon - two rookie cops - quite hardline because of their enthusiasm being rookies and all - they think that Jeff is too lenient on his half-brother because they are family  
Chizuru - A waitress at bar, the local mystic/witch (person with visions)  
Whip, Ralf and Clark - Secret Service Agents (like the CIA in real life) specially charged into investigating Orochi Corp and its worldwide criminal activities

Orochi/Orochi Corp - the bad guy  
Ryuji Yamazaki - his lackey, a ne'er-do-well who enjoys killing people  
Chris, Yashiro, Shermie - disguised as students (his minions at Southtown College)  
Mature and Vice are more minions (disguised as nurses in the hospital)  
Mr and Mrs Kane (as yet unnamed) - Billy and Lilly's parents, thought to be dead for 15 years, but in reality captives of Orochi

Goro Daimon - The Dean of Southtown College :)  
Kyo, Iori, Athena, Benimaru - students at Southtown college  
Andy and Terry Bogard - sons of Jeff - students at Southtown college  
Joe Higashi - Jeff's adopted son - also student at Southtown College  
Lilly Kane - Billy's younger sister, still in Southtown High School (a senior), she and Rock are close friends  
Mai - student at Southtown college, waitress at the restuarant  
Rock Howard - a senior (or junior - I haven't decided) at Southtown High School, son of Geese Howard, befriended by Lilly when no one else would be his friend  
Leona - a SS agent disguised as a college student

And probably some OCs.

* * *

Lilly's Diary Extract No6 

Dear Diary,

Nii-chan's first CD came out last week, and it sold like wildfire. All the radio stations are playing it, and there's talk that it will be number 1 on the charts. Woot!

Unfortunately that means I'm spending more time at the laundromat while nii-chan's doing his music stuff, I open it before school and close it down at night. And we have to have employees now to watch the place whilst I'm at school.

And GBBAG hasn't worked either, even though I'm sure there are many fangirls willing to throw themselves at him now (sweat drops). But I think secretly, he's waiting for the right one. So I don't think any of them are going to get what they want. Plus nii-chan's manager makes sure they keep a respectable distance away.

I told my brother about some paparazzi that were hanging around the laundromat, they were gone the next day. I wonder why?

Lots of Hugs and Kisses

Lilly


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 8

A/N: I don't own KOF. This in no way derogates any legal rights that the owners of KOF have over their materials. All OCs belong to me however.

The next morning, the crowd gathered once again, for the second quarter final. After the impressive display in the first quarter final the crowd could hardly wait for the second to go. Kai, Billy and Rock slid into their seats at the stadium to watch the match. They saw some of the other teams still in the tournament there too, scoping out today's fight. Down at the arena level, the referee announced that the match would start soon, but there was a slight delay due to someone oversleeping.

The two announcers, up in the skybox decided to fill in the time with more dissection and predictions; both from yesterday's match and today's.

"Well viewers, yesterday we had a perfect start to the quarter-finals, with the newcomers the HMK team triumphing over the highly fancied Fatal Fury team," the first commentator said, reminding all the viewers of the previous days events.

"Yes, and we are all looking forward to today's match as well," the second commentator said. "We know all the teams from here on in are all highly rated."

"Let's give them a run down of the teams that are left, starting with yesterdays winners," the first commentator

"Yesterdays winners, the HMK team. Team members, Rock Howard, Kai Mellion and Billy Kane. The acronym comes from their last names, and incidentally is also the acronym of the band that Billy is the frontman of," the second commentator said.

"Rock Howard, heir to the Haikkyousen style, having both his biological and adopted fathers's moves," the first commentator replied, "He's the youngest of the three, but has the potential to be one of the best ever, with that sort of lineage and training he could best everyone."

"And Billy Kane, the worldwide Heavy Metal superstar," the second commentator said, "His skill with the staff is unsurpassed by anyone that we know of. And he's retained all of his conditioning despite being a musical superstar. He's the most experienced in terms of KOF experience but is the middle in terms of age."

"Lastly we have the enigma of Kai Mellion; he is the manager of the best Metal band out there right now. He's the eldest of the three, but definitely a wily fighter and always manages to surprise his opponents with his techniques and the green liquid fire. The bubbling makes it aesthetically scarier than the gaseous flames of Kyo, Iori or Ash," the first commentator answered, "I wonder what he has in stall for us next round. And for all the calls of inexperience in fighting, I doubt it very much."

The second commentator agreed by nodding, and said into the microphone, "This team has a lot going for them, they don't have that much pressure being a relatively new team, but that does mean they are light on KOF experience, but I don't think they are light on fighting experience though. And they have the element of surprise in Kai, which gives them a great advantage." He finished talking, and took a quick sip of his water, before starting on the next rundown.

"The second team we are going to do a quick rundown on is the Kyo/Iori team. Members being Kyo Kusunagi, a many time champion of the KOF tournament, Iori Yagami, Kyo's long time rival who is every bit as good as he is, and Shingo Yabuki, Kyo's apprentice of sorts."

"Yes, so let's start our analysis with Kyo," the first commentator said, "The heir to the Kusunagi style. Uses orange flames. Which KOF watcher doesn't know him? A multiple time champion. Has experience, heart, courage, and tactics. And is very much a champion." The second commentator agreed vehemently with a vigorous nod.

"Iori Yagami, The Yagami heir, uses purple flames, though we haven't seen them this year for some reason. As famous as Kyo, if not more because of his single status. He's got the instinct of a champion, whereas Kyo relies on tactic, Iori instinctively knows where to be, which is a great asset to have."

"Lastly, we have Shingo Yabuki, definitely not as top class as the previous two, but a good fighter in his own right. He's won a couple of matches himself, and also trains using the Kusunagi style though without the distinctive orange flames due to his not being of the blood."

"All in all, a very good team, one with a lot of winning exprience, but had a loss in their group stage to the HMK team, though it was quite narrow. A big chance this year or in any year, since some of the favourites are out."

"And their opponents today, the Neo Psycho Soldiers, members Duo Lon, Sie Kensou and Athena Asimaya."

"Duo Lon, member of the Flying Brigands of America, a Chinese martial artist whose moves are deadly and quick. He's a relative newcomer to the KOF tournament, debuting in 2003. He's a solid fighter."

"Sie Kensou, Chinese Martial Artist and Psychic, apparently wielding the Dragon Psychic Power, giving him huge potential. He's an easygoing character and sometimes comical, but a good fighter. And definitely a star of the future."

"And lastly, Athena Asimaya, the IDOL. The world's pre-eminent psychic and a pop star to boot. She also taps into Psychic power to assist her Chinese style kungfu. She's also an experienced fighter having been in many KOFs."

"This is a good team, with a solid base and good skills. However, they do seem to up till now be missing that X factor, maybe it'll come out this year, maybe not. But they are to be rated highly."

"Oh, look, there the teams are finally here. Let's get started," the first commentator said.

Down at the arena level, the referee activated the random match picker. This time it was chosen to be a classic style match. While the teams had a quick five minutes to decide their order, everyone waited with baited breath to see the order. And then it came up on the big screen.

The referee said, "Round 1, Fight."

The match began with Shingo Yabuki against Athena Asimaya. Athena started by throwing a ball of Psychic Energy at Shingo who countered by launching into a jumping attack, catching Athena on the shoulder as she turned to avoid the attack. Shingo pressed on with an Oniyaki, one of Kyo's moves adapted by Shingo, the rising uppercut sending Athena into the air. He followed up with a Moon Koto attack.

Athena countered with a reflective psychic shield which impacted against Shingo, stunning him for a split second, which Athena used, launching into her psychic uppercut, and then kicking out at the top of the attack, sending Shingo down towards the ground. Shingo rolled and flipped and met Athena's next attack, teleport followed by a back elbow, trying to go for surprise, but Shingo was up to task, blocking the elbow and then countering with a nasty punch.

Athena staggered backwards, winded, as Shingo pushed the advantage with a Poison Bite. Athena fell to the ground. She flipped upwards, and attacked with a back elbow, countering and then using her powers to launch Shingo into the air. Finally, she thought, I can beat him, as she unleashed her desperation move, blasting Shingo. He landed with a thud on the ground, knocked out.

"KO, Round 1 to the Neo Psycho Soldiers team," the referee intoned.

"Round 2, ready, go," the referee said, after Kyo took the field to fight against Athena. Immediately, Kyo pressed the attack, knowing that Athena had to be tired from the previous bout. He unleashed his completed combo's, a flaming fist to the midsection, a back elbow, followed by a kick and then a flaming uppercut, was all it took for Kyo to score the victory.

"KO, Round 2 to the Kyo/Iori team," the referee said.

"Round 3, Kyo Kusunagi versus Duo Lon, ready, go," the referee intoned, as Duo Lon and Kyo faced off. Up in the stands, Billy, Rock and Kai were discussing the quickness with which Kyo had won the previous round. They all agreed that he had just unleashed a devastating combination attack, and was putting decidedly more energy into this fight than the previous one's in the round robin stage.

Back at the arena, Duo Lon began with a quick attack, sending his shadow across to strike Kyo low. Kyo launched into a R.E.D kick attack, quickly covering the distance between them, and then followed with a sweep, trying to catch Duo Lon off guard. However, Duo Lon melted into the ground, and reappeared in the air, a downward spiralling kick aimed at Kyo as he came out of his attempted sweep. The hit connected, a solid thump heard as Duo Lon struck Kyo on the chest sending him backwards into the ground.

Duo Lon continued the attack with a quick palm strike combination, blocked by Kyo, who retaliated with a uppercut.

Up at the commentator's box, the two commentators were engaged in quick banter, going on about how great the fight was, how hot Athena looked, (A/n: lechers) and on the action that was happening down at the arena. The crowd cheered loudly as Kyo took out Duo Lon with his trademark desperation move, the orange flames licking around Duo Lon even after he fell to the ground.

"KO, Round 3 to the Kyo/Iori team," the referee announced. The quick change over was made and round 4 was begun. The two fighters clashed, the crowd cheered as the fight continued. Other fighters who weren't training, were watching the match from Southtown hotel rooms. Round 4 was quickly over, the victory to the Neo Psycho Soldier team. The last round began, just like all the previous rounds. The crowd cheered louder as the fighting became more intense.

In the underground chamber where the Orochi worshippers were headquartered, the villains were laughing with glee as the power output of the intense fight energised their machine, sending the meter upwards showing that they were getting closer to having enough power to fulfil their goal. What they didn't know was that they had been penetrated and that spies had been recording everything they were doing.

Finally, the winner was declared as Iori finished off the match. The two commentators up in the skybox ranted and raved about the magnificent match. The superlatives were flying around. Kai sat in his hotel room, catching the end of the fight. He popped the DVD into his laptop and began analysing today's match, using the software his sister had so generously procured from the governmental agency.

The next day, Billy, Rock and Kai spent their morning training in preparation for their next fight, relying on a recording of the match to help analyse the team that could have been their next opponent. A quick run followed by a set of sparring matches took the whole morning. Coming out of the shower back at the hotel, Kai was hit by a sudden image in his mind, the rising of a new demonic God, his face shrouded in white hair. He shook his head vigorously as the image passed from his eyes. In his hotel room, Billy switched on the TV just in time to hear, "And the Ash team has moved on," the announcer said. He turned the TV off, and then continued to dry his blonde hair with the hotel towels. Rock flopped down on his bed, taking a little rest on the comfortable hotel bed.

* * *

Lilly's Diary Extract No7

Dear Diary,

Finally, after all this time nii-san found a girlfriend. And I didn't have to do anything. Yay! (Note: Must remember to thank Kai for his great work) :) I'm sure he thought of both of us when he decided to hitch his sister to my brother. Thank You! No wonder he was chasing all those other girls away. That sneaky saviour.

Now me and Joe have all the time to ourselves, whilst nii-chan is kept busy by his girl. We've been to the movies, to concerts and nii-chan is too busy to do anything about it. Can't wait for my next date. Whoops, he's here now. Gotta go.

Lots of Hugs and Kisses

Lilly


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 9

A/N: I don't own KOF. This in no way derogates any legal rights that the owners of KOF have over their materials. All OCs belong to me however.

I'd like to give my thanks to LSN for his continued reviews.

* * *

The first semi-final match would take place this morning. The four teams were placed into the randomiser, and one of the major sponsors pressed the button, as the names randomised, deciding the two semi-finals. 

The names came up, "HMK team against ADDES team, Ash team versus Kyo/Iori team," the sponsor announced.

A glint passed through Kai's eyes, a chance to inflict a beating on Duke was a chance he didn't want to miss, after all he doted on Lilly like an uncle, though truth be told they were soon to be family in the same generation, when Billy finally got around to asking Kaia to marry him. Looking across the arena, he saw that Duke had definitely bulked up even further, looking like a hulking monster now, rather than a man. Monsters didn't worry him though; his chameleon ability would do well here.

Billy looked forward to another fight with Soiree Meira, after all he had supported his brother's sullying of Geese's Legacy, back in the last singles tournament. Again, it looked as if Soiree had bulked up, and an empty look could be seen in his eyes. And there was Duke as well, this was a grudge that he would hold for a long time, perhaps even deeper than the one he had held for Iori, the one he sort of still held onto, but not so much since his famous win. Perhaps another chance in the final if both their teams made it through to finish the job.

Rock knew about Soiree Meira from the general gossip around Southtown, especially that his brother Alba was one of the new kingpins seeking to replace Rock's father as heir to the criminal element. He had gone quite far in taking down Mephistopheles Gang, but apparently their controlling organisation was bankrolling this team and Soiree had turned against his brother. Of Nagase, all the team knew was what they had seen of her in the previous fights, a wily fighter. 'Probably the controller', Rock surmised, he doubted the hulking monster was capable of much strategy.

The four teams left the arena, with the first match held today starting in half an hour. Kai, Rock and Billy entered their locker room behind in the arena, as the prepared for the match. Billy had his trademark blue leather jacket matched with blue jeans and red and white bandana, Rock his red and white bomber jacket, black jeans and black tee-shirt, Kai today had a simple black tee-shirt, and black jeans, nothing too trendy this time. He left his reversible windbreaker back in his bag. All three members of the team began with some stretches, flexing their muscles, making sure they were in top shape for the match. Whilst doing this, they started to discuss tactics.

"For matches, it could be any, classic style, tag style, double duel or three one on ones," Kai said, as he exercised his arms.

"If we have a classic style match then we have to probably decide an order," Kai continued.

"I'm leading off, if it is a classic style match," Rock volunteered, "for some variety, Billy should go next, and Kai, you should probably go last to bring it home if need be."

"I agree," Billy replied, "Rock is probably the most versatile, out of the three of us and can pretty much take any sort of fighter, ranged or close."

"Onto their team, their first fighter is Nagase, both of you saw her in Maximum Impact 2," Kai continued, whilst stretching out his legs.

"Her over reliance on the Battle Disc System, where she saves and collects data about fighters, should be her undoing, though I think she'll go last if it is a Classic Match, she's the one that works directly for ADDES," Billy replied.

"You'd probably have the advantage over her, Kai, she hasn't seen enough of you to know much," Rock agreed with Billy's assessment.

"Mmmm," Kai mused, "that's probably true, but she's wily I would think and definitely not to be underestimated."

"Soiree Meira, brother of a suspected criminal kingpin Alba Meira, one of those vying for control of Southtown, disappeared after MI2, no doubt he was recruited by ADDES," Billy said.

"Style, of fighting, is Capoeira," Rock added, as he finished warming up.

"From what we've seen so far, he still remains the same, though he's a little faster I think, and a bit stronger," Billy continued.

"He has glazed eyes," Kai said, "like he's in a trance or drug induced state, something I picked up from sis and her interrogation technique lessons. And Duke, Billy dealt with him before, though he's probably bulked up a lot from what I saw out there," Kai continued. "Power fighter, most likely, and dangerous if he gets a hit in, keep him off balance as much as possible."

The half hour was over, and the fighters began to make their way out to the arena. The crowd began cheering as the fighters were about to begin this semi-final match. Up in the commentators' box, the two announcers were there; ready to comment on today's match. Today they had special guest Terry Bogard there, along with Joe Higashi. How are you two this morning?" the announcer asked. The two special guests both commented they were fine.

The sponsor pressed a button and the match type was chosen for both semi finals. "It will be a New Style Tag Match," the referee announced. The first commentator said, "The HMK team beat your team last round to a lot of people's surprise, how do you think they will go today?"

Terry replied, "It was not that surprising, I've sparred or fought against all three members of the team, I trained Rock, and I have to say that they are quite good even though they haven't had as much experience. Joe could tell you more since he sparred regularly with all three of them in England."

The second commentator turned to Joe, who had joined them in the studio, "So, Joe, do you have anything to add."

"Not much, except that they run a very tough training regime, even though for them this is sort of part-time between school and work, all of the last year. Plus, they do quite a bit of weapons training too. Billy being a master at wielding the staff after all," Joe added, "though they aren't carrying any hidden firearms or anything like that this time around."

Down at the arena the three teams chose their order. "I'm going to go first this time," Kai volunteered. "It's a tag match, so we will have to rely on teamwork and quick switches."

Kai went to the centre of the arena for the first match. He faced his opponent, Nagase. He saw the assorted gizmos that adorned her, notably the battle disk on her right hand. No doubt she has a few hidden ones too.

Kai faced his opponent squarely, and flashed a rather toothy smile. At will, his left fist engulfed itself in chaosfire. He didn't expect any reaction from Nagase, and got none, but he hoped that it would throw her strategy off. "I'm going to enjoy this," he said.

"I'm going to kick your butt," she snapped back.

"As if," Kai replied, "You should beware of Chaos. It will burn you up." With that he lit up his right hand with chaosfire as well.

"Ready, go," the referee stated. Kai advanced and seeing that Nagase retreated, he thought that she was trying to play it safe, to try to gather data. What she didn't know was that Chaos couldn't be analysed. He began with a quick flurry, his signature beginning. She countered with a quick slash of one of her hidden gizmos, a knife-like thing, hitting Kai on the arm. She continued to attack with her disk system, firing her Shooting Stars move, countered by Kai's Chaosfire Shot. Nagase tried her Tricky Rounder attack, teleporting behind _(A/N: I hope I've got the right move)_ Kai, and kicking out, but Kai caught it in a block on his forearm and countered with an uppercut, hitting Nagase.

The two fighters circled one another again, as Nagase launched an Unrelenting Fire attack. Kai jumped and executed a mid air Chaos Scythe, bringing his leg down to impact on Nagase, who responded by blocking the attack with her two arms held in a cross position, Kai's leg coming down in between her two hands, as her heels dug into the ground. Kai used momentum to execute a back flip off her arm, and landed, blocking another Unrelenting Fire attack. He threw a Chaosfire Shot, the green globule splashing on the arena floor, hissing, right under where Nagase was after she had jumped to avoid the attack. She executed an Aerial Tricky attack, as Kai rolled under it, and away to the right.

Kai continued his attack, pressing with a Chaosfire Shot into a Double Shot, one high and one low, forcing Nagase to twist mid-air to avoid both. Kai pressed on with another flurry, forcing Nagase back, as he grabbed her with his right fist, and executed a throw move. Nagase recovered in mid air and retaliated with a teleporting kick, blocked by Kai, his arms crossed, as he executed a roundhouse kick, landing another hit, followed by an uppercut.

Kai waded in, with another combination attack, and then switched out, Rock coming in continuing the combination attack, with three kicks, followed by a Hard Edge, which sent Nagase across to the other side of the arena. "Wow, looks like the HMK team have pulled the first switch," the first commentator said, from his place in the skybox. "Nice move," the second commentator commented, "What do our special guests think?"

"Pretty good time to switch, to keep the current fighter fresh," Joe commented. Terry agreed. The commentators nodded, and began to call the action again, with superlatives, like "Wow, another punishing Double Cyclone Punch attack by Rock Howard."

Rock pushed on with another combination attack, three kicks into a Rising Tackle, sending Nagase up into the air. He followed with a Cyclone Punch attack, hitting as Nagase fell down towards the ground. Nagase threw herself into a recovery roll, rolling away from Rock towards the back of the arena. She attacked with a Shooting Star attack, cancelled out by a double Cyclone Punch. Rock pushed forward attacking with a quick punch, followed by another kick. Nagase countered with a Desperation move, Punishment Mode: Mega Slash, hitting Rock, injuring him. Nagase followed with a tricky rounder, teleporting behind Rock and swinging her leg towards his head. He blocked the kick and then launched into a Rising Tackle attack, spiralling up into the air, his kick meeting Nagase's face.

Nagase went flying backwards towards the end of the arena, as Rock pressed forward, a quick hop followed by a Double Fang attack, sending two quick kicks aimed at Nagase's chest. She managed to throw up a block in time, but got caught by the low sweep attack, clicking her heels together, toppling her to the ground. Rock followed with an overhead attack, striking her. Nagase flipped away, regaining her footing, as she launched a projectile attack.

The commentators up in the skybox continued to give their commentary, praising the fighters for their innovative moves. Rock pressed forward, attacking with a Atami Nage, throwing Nagase away. She took this time to switch out bringing Duke into the arena. The referee cleared the switch as legal, and the Duke began to attack, lumbering up to Rock and throwing a huge punch. Everyone could see the bulging muscles, almost unnatural. Rock saw the attack coming though, and ducked underneath, sweeping low, trying to take Duke off his feet. He succeeded, in forcing Duke off balance, for all of a second, giving Rock enough time to roll away and fire a trademark Howard-style Cyclone Punch, sending a wave along the ground. However, it barely stopped Duke, as he charged through the attack with his own rush attack.

His rush attack was blocked by Rock, but he had managed to push Rock back into a corner. Duke continued, grabbing Rock and throwing him against the arena wall, the then following with another two punch combination. He threw a Gravitational Wave, throwing Fire along the ground. Rock blocked the attack, but everyone could see he was beginning to flag and needed a rest. Wanting to keep one fighter fresh, Kai tagged back in, and faced off against Duke.

The commentators in the skybox began to jabber at the change of fighter for the HMK team. "Wow, another change of fighter, the strategy is starting to get interesting." Kai threw two Chaosfire Shots at Duke, who blocked and then countered with a Seismic Impact attack, blocked again, Kai rolling to Duke's exposed back, and unleashing a Chaos Uppercut, however, it barely lifted the big man off the ground. Kai came down with a scything overhead kick, but Duke blocked it, and countered with his Minefield attack, the explosions sending Kai flying away. Kai landed on one knee and dusted himself off, wiping the small trickle of blood off his lips. He smirked and then launched another set of Chaosfire Shots.

* * *

A/N: Well that's the first part of the first semi-final for you. There will probably be at least one more chapter covering this fight. Yes, it is long but there will be plenty of new innovations and new moves. Until next time...please review 

2. No diary entry this time.

3. If I have move descriptions wrong it's because I haven't played Maximum Impact 2. Sorry. Corrections and descriptions by PM would be nice. Thanks in advance.


	13. Chapter 13

Endgame KOF XII 

Chapter 10

A/N: I don't own KOF. This in no way derogates any legal rights that the owners of KOF have over their materials. All OCs belong to me however.

* * *

Duke faced his new opponent, blocking the Chaosfire shots as Kai rushed in with a flurry of fists and strikes. Duke, took the blows but countered by activating his minefield, sending Kai flying backwards, as the explosions caused a few flash burns. Kai scolded himself silently for getting caught in that sort of an attack. He saw that Duke was basically unharmed, and came towards him, with another rushing combination, a one-two punch, hitting high, and then sending Kai flying backwards. Kai flipped in mid-air and landed on one knee, just in time to block the next attack. He countered with an uppercut, catching the big man on the jaw, clacking his teeth together. However, he barely shrugged as he continued his assault. _Damn this guy can take a lot of punishment_, Kai thought as he continued with two Chaos Flurry attacks. 

Duke hit a double uppercut attack, and switched out, Nagase coming in, in the air, grabbing Kai and going into a Nagase Spiral attack, turning Kai and herself upside down, and started to gain momentum and speed to drive Kai headfirst into the ground. The commentators up in the skybox praised the combination attack launched by the ADDES team. Terry, their guest commentator, commented that things did look quite bad for his son's team right now. Joe smirked and said that it would just inspire them to go all out, and not to count Kai out yet.

As they spun around in a tight ever-quickening spiral, Kai was getting desperate. Can't let her beat me like this, not without taking one of them out with me. Kai used the one last gamble up his sleeve. Calling on the power of chaosfire, he willed the flames to spread first up his arms, then covering his torso, legs until his whole body was covered in green chaosfire.

"Engulf," Kai snarled between clenched teeth, his voice suddenly getting deeper, as if there were another power behind it. They became a like a flaming meteor spiralling towards the ground, as Nagase's grip slipped because of the acidic nature of the chaosfire, Kai started to invert himself pulling her around in a half somersault type manoeuvre, he was now on top with his hands around her shoulders, and then, using brute force, he launched himself upwards, throwing her down towards the ground. "Now, Billy," he shouted, as the flaming Nagase hit the ground, Billy's staff increased in size until the circular end was two metres in diameter. The staff shot out straight across the arena, hitting Nagase as bounced off the ground from the throw. The staff carried her and mashed her against the arena wall, a sickening thud reverberating through the arena.

Billy's staff returned to normal size as Kai landed, his broad and muscled chest exposed, a fiery tattoo, the Mark of Chaos etched on his back, no one had known about it, not even his own sister. Green chaosfire continued to cover him from the waist down to just before the knees, as he took his place by the sideline. Soiree Meira took to the arena replacing Nagase against Billy after the referee declared her unable to fight. "Take that, bitch." He spat on the ground next to him getting rid of the phlegm that had built up in his mouth, it sizzled on the ground, leaving a black mark.

The commentators up in the skybox buzzed with excitement, "wow, that was one mean team desperation move, Kai has shown his total tenacity there. And now, the ADDES team is down one fighter and most likely pissed off."

"He's going to take some time to cool down now," the second commentator replied. "Billy is the active fighter right now," he continued. He turned towards his guest commentators, Joe and Terry. Joe smiled, "I knew it," he said.

"So it's you," Billy said, "usurper. This time you are going down."

"Pfft," Soiree replied, his eyes empty. He circled around, ready to unleash in his unusual Capoeira style.

The two fighters circled each other, carefully, as Billy feinted a short jab forward with his staff, quickly withdrawing as Soiree was suckered into launching a roundhouse kick. Billy countered by ducking and tripping Soiree, then drove the end of his staff into the fallen Soiree's chest.

He jumped back and brought his staff down in an overhead blow, but Soiree rolled out of the way and countered with a standing kick, into an overhead kick, knocking Billy to the ground. Billy rolled away, and took up his ready stance again. He led off with a quick combination attack, a jumping kick into a hit with his staff. A quick combination attack, finishing off by using his staff to launch himself into the air, and driving his staff into Soiree's chest again, winding him.

Billy scooped Soiree up with the end of his staff and threw him across to near where Rock was. Calling out to his team mate, the switch was made as Rock launched into a Rising Tackle, his foot catching the thrown Soiree on the chest, four times, before launching him away. The fight continued as both fighters scored hits.

"So predictable," Rock replied, had time to reply whilst he applied the Vacuum-slam. "I can read you like an open book," he taunted, as he countered the next attack.

Rock continued pummelling away with a relentless assault of combination attack after combination attack, launching punches, kicks into harder, faster and more damaging attacks. Soon enough, it was over and Rock had claimed victory over Soiree.

"That was two down for ADDES," the commentator said from up in the Skybox.

"I told you so," the second commentator replied, "and the HMK haven't technically lost one fighter yet, though I assume that Kai is low on energy right now." The other commentator agreed.

The guest commentators gave their comments too, praising the HMK team for their performance so far.

"This only leaves one to go, Duke," the first commentator said, "and there is bad blood here too." He went on to describe the rumours that Duke had kidnapped Billy's sister before, and had earned the ire of both Kai and Billy, at the very least.

But it was Rock that started the fight against Duke. Duke's muscular figure bulged even more than before, as he threw a punch. Rock blocked the punch but the force of it, made him take a step back. The next punch came, this time Rock sidestepped it, and launched a counter attack.

Tagging Billy into the fight again, Rock took his place at the side of the arena, for a quick breather. Billy faced Duke, the man who had tried to kidnap his sister previously.

"You're a dead man," Billy taunted.

"I've been dead already, it's nothing new," Duke replied.

"Well, let me put you back into your grave, where you belong." Billy answered back, as he launched a furious assault only to be met by a powerful punch which he had to quickly block with his staff. He saw Duke launch another attack, another powerful punch aimed at his midsection, trying to send him flying. Billy sidestepped that one, and countered with a low sweep. The fight continued, as both attacked with ferocity that belied any normal person. It was going to come down to one decisive sequence of events.

Sent flying backwards by Duke's powerful double punching attack, Billy jammed his staff into the ground and entered into a languid flip, one quarter of the way around, pushing off the wall, he came back at Duke, a flying attack, which caught Duke unaware, forcing his massive frame backwards. _Gragh_, Duke's bestial voice came as he charged, his muscles bulging dangerously, as the effect of the ADDES modifications to his body came to fore.

Billy ducked under the punch and blocked the next one, but Duke belying his strength grabbed the end of Billy's staff when he counterattacked and pulled. The chain holding the third part of the staff together snapped. Duke wordlessly threw the broken end away, as Billy stared shocked. The next punch sent him flying into the stadium wall, the impact cratering the wall.

"Billy," Kai shouted as Billy got up, obviously dazed. Duke rumbled forward pushing the attack. Kai grabbed a spare staff, but the referee told him to put it down, stating that Billy could not change his staff until this round finished or until he tagged out. Billy looked up, now wondering what he had to do. His staff was now shortened, and he had to quickly re-strategise. He nimbly dodged the next punch, the air flushing with a whoosh as it passed overhead.

He rolled away, and had to think quick, wait, there was a something he could do, but was risky, and he hadn't had much practice at it. His girlfriend had been teaching him the short staff style that she knew and he was teaching her, in hopes of developing a new style. He flicked his staff to his right hand, holding it at the end, the chain dangling from the end right below his hand. Kai stood watching, so he his going to finish this. Kai smiled, and offered a comment to Rock, "He's copying my sister." _Smart. She's probably watching this one somewhere._

Billy launched his attack, ducking another big punch, jabbing out at Duke's knee, the bulging muscle crumpled inwards, causing Duke to stagger. Billy whipped his staff quickly upwards, hitting Duke on the jaw, whipped it around again for a crunching blow to the head, danced backwards to avoid another punch, and then turned back inwards landing another blow, low on the thigh, then whipped his staff upwards, a blow to the jaw, followed by a kick to the midsection, staggering Duke back. _Not quite the level of my sister yet_, Kai thought, _but he's close to her skill at her own style_. _Of course having trained so long with the longer staff would make the learning a lot easier._

As the modifications started to fail, the Heralds watched on their screen, and Jivatma raged and ordered the scientists to be killed for their failure.

The attacks continued, Billy showing speed in whipping the staff one handed up and down, jabbing and whacking and dancing forwards and backwards. A jab to the head, knocked Duke back, breaking his nose. As the modifications broke down, Duke dropped to the ground and began to convulse violently. The referee had to step in and declare that Billy had won the bout, as the medics removed Duke from the arena. As the stretcher was about to exit, a sickening explosion was heard as Duke's left arm blew up below the elbow, due to the modifications and drugs.

Down in the headquarters, the Heralds and Jivatma were engaged in a long and heated argument.

"You failed, fool," Shion said. "Your scientist screwed up, we were assured that this process would not fail and that you would get us the required energy."

"It's no big loss," Jivatma replied, "he was a traitor to us after all, only fit to be brainwashed and used."

"Your team lost," Botan said, nonchalantly, "I say that is a big deal. We have to be very careful with energy now, we could have had them fight each other, just in case this tournament did not give enough. But still, the plan can succeed."

Shion shot Botan a dark look. "It's just a backup," Botan replied. "I expect that we will succeed with our primary plan."

As Jivatma exited the room, Botan whispered to Shion, "I had to say that, to keep the fool's trust. He blundered big time, I think when Orochi comes, he'll be given a nasty surprise."

"He knows that we are playing him, and we know that he's going to try to play us," Shion answered, "this is good for us, insofar as he has three less fighters to disrupt our plan."

Back up at the arena level in the skybox, the commentators were busily giving commentary. "That's the first team into the finals, the HMK team are into the finals. Tomorrow we will see whether their opponents are the Ash team or the Kyo/Iori team."

Down on the arena floor, a reporter ran onto the ground, eager for an interview with the winners.

The interviewer turned to Kai, "the fight's over, are you making a statement to the other teams left by keeping the Chaosfire activated, showing your absolute control," she asked.

He smirked and then gave a rather sheepish grin, formulating a witty reply, "what do you think, I lost some good clothing there, use your imagination. I still have some dignity you know." With that the team left for the locker rooms, leaving a slightly bewildered reporter. Lilly, watching back in England understood, of course, what the comment meant, after all fire does burn clothes. She laughed.

Billy, Kai and Rock quickly left the arena and entered their locker room, as Billy surveyed the wreckage of his staff. "I'm going to have to get it re-forged," Billy said.

"At least you did bring a couple of spares with you," Kai replied, as he went to the shower to cool off.

"Try not to break another," Rock joked, laughing. Kai joined in the resulting laughter.

"Try not to lose your clothes again," Billy shot back.

"Hah-hah," Kai replied, from the shower, "it just shows that I give one hundred percent to winning, no matter the cost." The water from the shower came down, a warm torrent of water, refreshing his body. He heard the other two showers in the locker room go on, as everyone cooled down from the fight. _I'll have to invest in some fire-proofed clothes next time. I hadn't expected to have to go that close to full out._

It was back at the hotel when the conversation turned more serious, "What was with Duke today, his arm exploded," Billy asked, "He was also a lot stronger but slower than last time, and those muscles bulged unnaturally. Frankly, it was disturbing."

Kai paused in thought, "I suppose it could be some sort of scientific thing, I have heard of experiments on humans by criminal organisations in an attempt to create fighters capable of taking out masses of police at once, and each other as well, from an unnamed source, but it's not my area of expertise." though those here knew it was his sister who had told him.

"It's probably some sort of quick, short-term modification process," Kai continued. "I assume that the controller was one of the other two, likely the girl with all those gizmos."

"Yes, probably so, but they probably are quite angry at their scientists right now, having failed," Rock agreed, "So one match left," he continued, changing the subject, "whichever team we come up against, I think we will be the underdogs."

"Yeah," Billy agreed, "we probably will, but that doesn't mean that they'll win."

Kai worried, in his mind, especially at the clash between Ash and Kyo and Iori, the three flame wielders. There was bad blood between all of them, and that Ash character was definitely up to something, the innuendo he had heard from his sister made it clear enough. "Yes," he replied, "that puts the pressure on them." The image he had had before came to the surface of his mind again at that moment, the figure shrouded, but the whitish hair seemed to point to Ash. And that boded badly for everyone, everything. If he were to attain all three treasures and try to ascend...he shivered at the thought.

* * *

Authors Notes Extended

1. Only about 3 chapters left in this story.

2. There will probably be no sequel to this one. But I have another idea for another KOF fanfic in the works called KOF: Another World, that's going to be one of my two long-term projects, the other being a Star Wars fanfic.


	14. Chapter 14

To all my readers,

This is a holder for the MISSING CHAPTER that might come up later.

Go to the next chapter to read the rest of the story and a more detailed explanation.

Thanks for bearing with me

Darth Riven


	15. Chapter 15

Endgame KOF: XII

Disclaimer: SNK owns King of Fighters and all the characters that appear. I own any original character appears. This in no way derogates from SNK's legal rights and obligations.

* * *

**A/N: I guess, firstly to my readers: I want to apologise. I just can't bring myself to write the next chapter. Kyo and Ash just aren't giving me any sort of creative ideas at all. I've been spending a lot of my time writing my Star Wars, and lately a new One Piece fanfic. Once again, I apologise.**

**If I get inspired, I will put the missing chapter in. But for the purposes of this fanfic, you guys really just need to know that Kyo lost to Ash and now he has all three treasures. And you'll also need to know that Kaia and Billy went off to investigate the underground facility at the stadium where the Heralds were. And Kai went after Ash. Rock stayed at the stadium to help the evacuation as Orochi began to resurrect himself**

* * *

Chapter 11

Ash and Elisabeth reached an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town. Carefully he drew out the Mirror from her body, where he had hidden it. The mirror had allowed him to turn her, and now as it exited, Elisabeth regained control of herself.

"Ash, what?" was all she could say, before Ash stabbed her with the Kusunagi sword, through the heart. Slowly he drew out the third treasure, the shield and began the incantation, the one that would allow him to ascend to godhood, the one that would give him absolute power. He smeared Elisabeth's blood in a circle, hoping that she was still maiden, as maiden's blood was best, though the incantation really only called for a person's blood, but the purer the better. He cackled evilly as he began the ritual.

* * *

Kaia pulled out a short staff, which had been attached to her belt. She depressed a button, and the short staff extended to form a staff approximately one metre long. She held it out the point pointing towards her enemies. Billy withdrew his long staff, holding it beside him, one end on the ground in a vertical position. 

Billy threw a Tri-Cane-Smash attack forward, as Kaia came flying backwards from the last hit that the Botan had inflicted, a mistake, Botan thought, dropping his guard for a split second, "stupid fools, I'm going to win." Of course, what he didn't expect was that Kaia executed a mid-air flip, her right foot touched the end of Billy's staff as she held her own short staff out in front of her. The tri-cane move gave her extra forward velocity, as she depressed a second button, and a spike appeared at the end of her short staff. Kaia shot forward and under Botan's guard, too surprised to do anything as the spike pierced through his heart, killing him. Still he was content, it would be way too late for them to stop Orochi from returning, and once Orochi returned so would Shion and the others, inept as they were.

* * *

Masses of energy began to gather as the machine began to open a portal to allow Orochi to return. Rock saw the stadium floor open up and a massive throne come up through the ground. Billy and Kaia were stuck trying to damage the machine but it was getting too late. A red portal began to open, as he saw a the previously dead Four Heavenly Kings stepped through, followed by the Heralds. The crowd continued to panic as they all ran for the exits. Other fighters tried to direct the flow of the crowd out of the stadium, but many were getting trampled.

Rock stopped to help up a little boy who had lost his mother and father. Scooping the kid up under his elbow, he launched himself forward towards the nearest exit, his jacket flapping in the wind. He saw power erupt from the Four Heavenly Kings, four points of light shooting into the portal drawing out the massive demon.

Outside he put down the boy and ran back in, to see all the other fighters, his 'dad' and 'mom' (A/N: that is Terry and Mary), and the rest were getting ready to attack. What they all failed to notice, was in the background, a vortex began to form, so intent were they on defeating Orochi.

* * *

Orochi stretched out its demonic hands ready to fire lightning and fire, at all the fighters who opposed him. He raised his hands and gestured, everyone dived for cover, expecting huge explosions, but nothing happened. You could hear a pin drop, as Kaia was the first to recover, rolling and pulling a firearm from her left boot. Orochi tried to fire lightning again, his followers just stood shocked, senseless. Bang! A small hole appeared on Orochi's forehead and then it collapsed, as the hole oozed out demon blood. The human fighters were quicker to recover from the shock, as the building was stormed by commandos, who fired their machine guns ripping holes into body as it collpased forward. The commandos also fired their machine guns at all of his followers killing them all. 

"Everyone get out of here," Whip shouted, it was she that commanded the commandos. After the last of the fighters got out and retreated to a safe distance, a hovering helicopter fired a rocket into the building, exploding, the red fire consuming Orochi's body and his followers, making sure that they were truly dead. The fighters, outside were still dazed. They could not believe what had happened, Orochi, the demon, had been resurrected and then had done nothing, apparently they must have botched the ritual. It was then they saw the blue vortex over a building in the distance, energy swirling into it, as if being sucked in by a giant black hole.

* * *

Streams and waves of energy rolled around in a violent storm, Ash at its centre, as he began to absorb all power, as he began to ascend to absolute godhood. The power poured into his body, his senses enhanced, going into overload. Kai rushed in through the storm, to see Ash gloating standing in the middle. Seeing that Ash was beginning to take all power, he stood there, preparing to attack. However, he did not notice the roof, above him, cracking, stressed with fractures as a result of the rushing power, it collapsed right on top of him, I have failed he thought as he blacked out. 

Ash saw Kai run in, he gestured and Kai was crushed by the falling roof. Fool, he thought, I am the most powerful now, I have the power of God. His whole body started to envelop itself in a green gaseous flame, as more and more power flowed into him, intoxicating, he breathed out, licking his lips, flexing his fingers, his whole body, feeling the power rush through him. It was nirvana, utopia, absolute bliss.

The power continued to flow in, as the streams and waves began to die out, as he absorbed all power. Suddenly, he noticed the pile of rubble where Kai had been buried begin to stir. To his astonishment, Kai's body flew upwards, almost rocking, Ash's senses telling him that there was something different now, it wasn't Kai, there was another power behind, a faint sheen of blue. Kai's mouth moved, but it was not his voice that spoke, "so, you are the one who is replacing me, finally, I'm free and you are trapped forever," the voice boomed out, as if it was depthless.

"Trapped?" Ash laughed, femininely, "I have absolute power, I'm going to rule everything."

"Such naivete, you have much to learn about being God," the voice replied again.

"But nothing to learn from you, because you are dead," Ash screamed, lashing out with his hand, blue lightning forking out from its towards Kai's body, but somehow, it just disappeared, faded, never hit, as it disappeared. This shocked Ash, he was all powerful, he was God.

"Die," he screamed again, sending another lot of blue lightning at Kai's body. It dissipated again. "You should not be living, you don't have any power, I'm more powerful than you, you can't stop me," Ash screamed, starting to feel worried.

"You are right, I can't stop you, but then again, I'm not the one stopping you, you are," the voice spoke again, this time jerking a hand up and pointing at Ash. "The second stage of ascension should start soon for you, and believe me, it will hurt." As he finished saying this, pain blossomed within Ash's body, as if it was being riven apart from the inside, yet he saw nothing happen on the outside, there was no sign of physical injury, it was as if his pain receptors were just all turned on. He screamed in anguish, "no you are going to die," he said, as he threw more and more lightning, his face beginning to distort with the racking pain.

The lightning just kept on dissipating, "when will you learn that this won't work," the presence in Kai's body spoke, "everything you do, you stop yourself from doing. If you do not understand that..." The pain continued to rip Ash's insides apart, as he doubled over, clutching himself, the pain receptors screaming at full power. "Right about now, you are separating into the aspects, soon, you won't have a physical body left. When the ascension finishes I shall be free and you shall be trapped for eternity. Watching, but never being able to do anything, except watch, forever, as you war with yourself."

Ash began to panic as the words began to sink in, he would be trapped for eternity, and the powers they were useless, he could not even kill a single mortal, one without any power.

"How can I stop this," Ash screamed, tears rushing down his contorted face.

"Why should I tell you," the presence spoke, his voice almost mocking.

Ash could not think of anything to say, anything to sway him, he just looked piteous. Kai's eyes, no, the presence's eyes one white, the other black looked on uncaring, or so Ash thought.

The presence spoke, "there is one last way, kill yourself, and all the power will go back. So you have a choice, spend eternity in loneliness, an outsider, only observing, never doing anything, only able to wish that you could interact with the world, or die, and be reborn, it is that simple. You don't have much time, to choose now, the third part begins sooner than you think. Your body is starting to fade."

Ash saw his hands beginning to fade, to turn transparent. No he thought, this can't be, they tricked me, I misunderstood, the power of God. And so Ash, left with no choice, no wracked with pain, picked up a piece of metal piping that was protruding out, snapped it off, held it with both hands at one end, and then drove the other end into his heart. He felt the power going away, life ebbing away from him, he would no longer be cursed to an eternity of loneliness, an eternity where he could do nothing but watch.

With Ash's life fading quickly, as power blew upwards into the sky, the building began to crumble and collapse, the presence in Kai's body lurched, thinking, damn I need to learn how to work these human bodies properly, it has been too long since I have had one, slowing going towards the door. Just as he exited the front, the building totally collapsed as all the power was now free. I'll have a lot of work to do, the presence thought, as he lurched forward, a sword, a shield and a mirror appeared in his hands, this will be the first power I return it thought, as it lurched onwards.

Meanwhile, all the others had just witnessed well, none of them knew what, they had felt their powers drain from them, they had seen the waves and streams of power going in focusing on a point, and then stopping, and then coming out again. Kaia and Billy had seen the look on Orochi's face as his body began to ooze demon blood as the bullets ripped through his body, and then when the rocket had hit the building where he was, they were still too shocked to think about anything.

Suddenly, in the distance, Kyo and Iori saw Kai's body lurching forwards, as if it had forgotten how to walk properly. Kai's had three objects cradled in his hands. He continued to slowly shuffle towards the crowd of surviving fighters. Kai's body stumbled, as it tripped over a rock, about to faceplant in the ground, only until a woman caught the body. It was Chizuru Kagura. She supported Kai's body as the presence made its way to the fighters.

Iori and Kyo were still shell-shocked, as they turned and saw Chizuru helping Kai walk, when they got to the group, the presence in Kai's body, stood erect. It was then that Chizuru saw the objects in Kai's hands, the three sacred treasures. Kai's body turned towards Kyo and Iori, "You will have to tell everyone else they will all get their power back soon, those who accept it."

"Thank you child," God said as it turned to Chizuru, "for you, a gift from God, may you be its guardian once again." He handed the mirror to Chizuru who gratefully accepted it. Turning to Kyo, "to you, a gift of God, may you be its guardian once again," he said handing the sword to Kyo who gratefully accepted it the orange flame reappearing in his hands as he willed it to appear. Turning to Iori, "to you, a gift of God, may you become its guardian once again," he said as he handed the last of the sacred treasures, the sacred magatama to Iori, who surprised him by refusing it.

"You would refuse a gift of God?" the presence spoke again, through Kai's body, with his voice, but it seemed depthless like before.

"It's tainted by a demon's curse," Iori replied. "I can do well enough without it, thank you."

"Excuse me, Chizuru, could you please beat some sense into this man," God replied, "Or actually, hold my servant's body while I step out and do it myself." Grabbing hold of Kai's body, Chizuru held it, as a blue fuzzy image of a man stepped out of Kai's body, first his head and torso, then his legs. The blue figure turned to Chizuru and said, "Thank You."

He turned around to Iori, "Now, understand this. Orochi dead, curse gone." God's eyes blazed as if to drive the point home. "AND without my gift you stand no chance of beating him," continuing its speech with his index finger, pointing at Kyo. "When you two fight, not even I can tell what the outcome will be." He laughed, a booming laugh.

"And anyway, it is your fate, you are needed to help protect this realm, from others, I assure you, others will rise in the place of Orochi in the demon realm, and the dragon realm, that man almost managed to open a portal and summon the dragon power to himself. Accept my gift," God commanded, more than asked.

"when you say that I need your gift to beat him," Iori said as he accepted the gift of God, he continued, "not even you can tell who will win between me and him," he said, as he laughed, "some God."

God just smiled, "There has to be something fun in my eternal life, otherwise everything would get boring and predictable, it's quite lonely being God, you guys provide me with entertainment that I need."

The shocked faces around God was enough to make him laugh, it boomed loudly resonating, when he finished, he said, "Take care of this body, I only borrowed it, he's going to sleep for exactly a year, and then he will wake up, without any memory of what happened here. Take care, and maybe one day the two feuding clans will put aside their differences and become one. We'll see what I feel like doing." With that last comment, the blue figure of God faded out. Kyo helped Chizuru drag Kai's prone body to a waiting ambulance, who took the body from them and sped off.

Chizuru explained, "he's still alive, but is sleeping for a year, or so God said," to Kaia and Billy and Rock, who had heard that Kai's body had been found, fearing the worst. Kaia climbed into the ambulance, which sped off to the hospital.

* * *

A/N: Woot, that's the end. Except for the epilogue. Again I apologise. 


	16. Chapter 16

Endgame KOF: XII

Disclaimer: SNK owns King of Fighters and all the characters that appear. I own any original character appears. This in no way derogates from SNK's legal rights and obligations.

**A/N: Here's the finished epilogue. To all my readers, I had actually had the Epilogue and the previous chapter written ages ago. It was really that last chapter in the middle that really just wouldn't get written. **

**LSN: I did fully intend Ash Crimson to be the 'hero' so to speak in the way I wrote it. Call it my 'sick twisted humor', but he did save the world cos' a fully powered Orochi would have wiped the floor with everyone. I know it could have done with a lot more expansion and prose, but what was posted was the bare bones of what was going to happen. Anyway, that wasn't the end. There is the Epilogue. **

* * *

**Epilogue **

Billy and Kaia were at the hospital, thinking of what lie to tell Kai's family, "maybe an accident or something like that, some dodgily rigged equipment fell on him. I think we'll stick with that," Kaia suggested, as they sat by Kai's bed, in the hospital.

"The band will miss him for a year," Billy said, "maybe we'll have to get another manager, or maybe we'll just take the year off. I don't know."

"I'm sure we all will miss him for a year," Kaia replied. "We have to go soon, the others will be expecting us, at the party, I think we should at least drop by and say hello and good-bye," Kaia continued, as she got up from her seat, "The British government will fly him back on my request, and we'll put him in a private room. The doctors have a hard time explaining his condition, his body is fine, as long as it gets fed and the waste gets taken out through the tubes."

"Yeah, but will his wife make any trouble," Billy asked, having only met the woman once.

"No, she can't, he's not brain dead, it's as if he's just asleep, and anyway, life support can't get turned off without my consent, he had it done that way, needs both consent of me and her. Just like if I was marrying someone else, the right to turn off life support would be both his choice and my husbands, but you would not mind that would you?" she asked.

"No, of course not, I wouldn't," Billy replied. The nurse stuck her head in the door and told them that visiting hours were over for the day. Billy and Kaia got up and headed out, leaving for the party at King's bar, where everyone was celebrating the death of Orochi and hopefully the end of that particular threat.

The rest of the fighters had all gathered at King's bar that night their powers having returned to their rightful owners. This tournament was a bust, there was no clear winner the two teams in the final having disappeared, Ash's team was obliterated with Ash dead, Elisabeth dead and Ron missing, and HMK team had lost Kai for one year. Though the tournament committee had declared HMK the winners since they still had two available fighters compared to none, it just wasn't really the same, especially without Kai. The mood was thus, a bit dampened for Billy and Rock, as they thought of their teammate in hospital in his induced sleep.

"At least others are having unreserved joy, Billy thought, at a table with Kaia. Rock was finally free of his past of the sins of both his biological mother and father. He drank lemonade being still underage, as he sat with his parents at another table. Bonne Jenet came over to say hi, and Rock felt his blood run as he blushed.

As Billy thought of Rock, his thoughts turned to Geese and an idea for a new song began to form in his head. This one would be personal, for the man who's legacy was with them both. With his guitar and Rock's bass, a simple song probably with acoustic guitar and bass, unlike the usual heavy rock that he normally did with his band.

Athena, pop idol princess would be performing as well that night, Luise had started the night off and had now left to return home, to continue her search for her missing father. Apparently, Jivatma had escaped and ADDES was still somewhere out there, waiting to travel the stars, or so they claimed. Kyo, Shingo and Benimaru were sitting, chatting, drinking. K' and Kula were kissing in a booth in the corner, as was Diana and Maxima, their drinks untounched. Andy and Mai were dancing away to the metal band's tunes, along with the MOTW team, and the rest of Benimaru's team. Joe had flown off already, back to England, and to Lilly, hoping to spend time with her, before Billy got back. Kensou and Athena sat at another table, waiting for her turn on stage after Iori's band was done, drinking juice and eating buns, after their run in with Ron had fizzled. Kensou still sported some bandages from where Ron had extracted his blood in order to open the portal.

Ryo, Yuri and Takuma and Robert were sitting at the bar drinking. Ryo was chatting to King, distracting her from bartending, so she called one of her other staff to take over, as she and Ryo went to the office. Kim, Choi and Chang were sitting at yet another table, Chang downing a whole beer in one go, much to Kim's chagrin.

Some of the fighters of course, weren't there, Duo Lon had disappeared on his quest to kill Ron, Lin had disappeared as well. Gato had run off, Hotaru hot on his trail, a couple of steps behind. Duke had gone back underground everyone thought, though how long he would last with one arm was another question altogether, Nagase was missing no doubt the syndicate who had bankrolled her team took her, the anti-kyokugenryu team had declined to come because King had invited the Sakazaki's, Ryuji Yamazaki had gone back to his killing, the Ikari warriors had gone off on another mission for Heidern. The party continued into the wee hours of the morning, before everyone was all partied out, and flopped back into their hotel rooms or homes.

Kai was shipped home by the British and American governments back to London, and then taken to a nice room in a private hospital, the room began to fill with flowers, as members of the music community wished him well, and hoped that he recovered. Kaia and Billy wanted to wait for the year to pass quickly, as they were not going to get married without Kai's attendance, without him walking his sister down the aisle.

Kai's wife had taken it in her stride, and Kaia was sure that her sister-in-law would be angry for a while, before Kai would 'miraculously' wake up in fifty-one weeks time much to his wife's surprise. The accident story had worked, much to Billy and Kaia's relief, his wife had been worried when Kai had gone off to Southtown to fight, even though she knew he was an expert martial artist, raised by two champions even though he didn't like to brag about it except the time he had schooled a younger Rugal Bernstein, or participate in tournaments before this one. She knew a little about some of his special martial arts powers and had watched a bit of the matches on TV, seeing her dear husband keep up and beat other fighters much younger than him, gave her immense pleasure. At least her house never got robbed, or so she liked to brag to the other ladies in her knitting club.

They had said it wasn't a fighting injury but a freak accident afterwards when he was looking at possible venues for the next Heavy Metal Kingz tour of America and they had produced faked reports to back it up, courtesy again of the UK and American governments.

* * *

Three months later, the band released their second CD, with a new manager, and once again it stormed to the top of the charts all around the world, but the band delayed any touring for a year, at Billy's insistence. Their new manager was perplexed at this bizarre request, but Billy explained that the Kai was soon to be his brother-in-law as well, and that he had to stay to support his fiancée, covering for the fact that he knew that Kai was going to get better. The new CD played softly, for heavy rock music in the stereo that Kaia had left there until the nurse had turned it off, though she made sure it was turned on, on the days no one visited.

Later that night, Kaia and Billy were at his house, eating reheated leftovers made by Lilly, who had excused herself, saying that she was going to bed or rather sneaking out the window to meet her boyfriend for a movie. Rock had also moved back to Southtown, now that it was relatively safer, so there was no one else there in the house. Rock and Billy had recorded for personal consumption, the song they had wrote and played together, about Geese, the man who was father to one, and like a father to the other; the man had touched them both in different ways. He had had an email from Mary Bogard about a week ago, saying that Southtown was now much quieter and nicer; adding on that Rock had started dating.

After dinner, they snuggled up on the couch, her head resting in his lap, a blanket covering her body, as they watched the TV, Billy and Kaia looked forward to the day of their wedding ceremony, in slightly less than nine month's time, having been legally married by certificate once they had returned to England. They fell asleep in each other's arms, eagerly awaiting that day. There were still many days before it, but with each day that passed, they were one day closer.

* * *

**1 Year Later**

A man sat in his office reading the latest issue of Star Magazine. Emblazoned on it's cover was the headline "Rock Sensation Weds." Accompanying that headline was a photo of Billy and Kaia at their wedding, and the words, "we have exclusive pictures." The man flipped through the magazine, until he got to that story.

He started to read the article. "Last Friday, at a castle in the countryside of England, frontman of the multi-WMA winning Rock band, Heavy Metal Kingz, Billy Kane wed his sweetheart, Kaia Mellion in this year's biggest celebrity wedding. The blushing bride was dressed in a spectacular white dress that wowed all the guests or so the photos showed. He continued to read the article divulging the details of the wedding.

"We wanted to wait, at least until my brother got better," the magazine quoted the bride as saying. "We had always known that he was going to wake up some day," the groom had added. The magazine article went on for sixteen pages before it ended with a witty comment from the editor.

Another man laid bored, on the brown couch on the other side of the room. The first man, from behind his desk, flicked the magazine across to the man on the couch. "Soiree, take a look at this," the man behind the desk said, "don't you think it is about time to launch the next tournament."

"I'm ready any time," Soiree replied. "Especially if that team is going to be there again." He flicked through the story, and looked at the faces of the bride, the bridegroom, his sister, her brother.

"I doubt it, they'll be too busy enjoying their married life. That's good for us, one less annoyance to worry about," the man behind the desk replied, "Get ready, you are going into heavy training."

"Whatever, I told you, I'm ready anytime." Yes, the man behind the desk thought, now that Orochi's gone, it's time for the new order to make it's mark. Lord Kushiel, your time has come.


End file.
